54 corona warriors lose battle against virus in Odisha, half in past 1 month

BHUBANESWAR: Fifty-four frontline workers have so far succumbed to Covid-19 in the state, an official source said on a day the toll went up to 580 with the death of 11 more patients. Among the Covid warriors to have died, 11 were doctors. On Wednesday, 3,748 more tested positive for the virus, taking the Covid count to 1,35,130.
According to the health department figures, a total of 6,329 frontline workers including doctors, nurses, paramedics, teachers, ASHA and anganwadi workers and other government employees on Covid duty were infected by the virus. While 1,924 are under treatment, 4,351 have recovered.
Apart from doctors, at least 11 teachers engaged in Covid work have died so far. Out of the 54 corona warriors to have died, half of them succumbed to the virus in the past one month.
During a review of the Covid situation on Wednesday, chief minister Naveen Patnaik expressed concern over rising infections among government employees. “The chief minister has asked for stricter compliance of Covid norms in government offices,” a statement issued by the chief minister’s office said.
The infection among Covid warriors include more than 1,200 from Bhubaneswar alone.
Naveen calls for stricter enforcement
While Naveen emphasized on stricter enforcement of Covid guidelines and crackdown on those not wearing masks, or ignoring social distancing norms and spitting in public places, particularly in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar which has been witnessing a surge in cases in the past 10 days, the police cited too many infections among inspectors and sub-inspectors in the twin cities as hurdle in stricter enforcement of Covid norms.
Naveen told officials to increase ICUs and ambulance service in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. Government sources said ICU occupancies in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar is more than 90% while overall in the state it is 49%.
Additional secretary (health) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said to ensure availability of more ICU beds, the state is planning to convert some general beds into ‘stepdown ICU’ beds where many patients in ICU who have already stabilised can be shifted. These are equipped with oxygen supply and facility to monitor vital parameters. The government also asked Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation to increase the number of patients under home isolation to ease the burden on hospitals. While total number of patients in home quarantine is around 64%, it is less than 40% in Bhubaneswar and around 71% in Cuttack.
Of the 11 deaths on Wednesday, four were from Ganjam, where the toll increased to 213. Though the number of new positive cases has been declining in Ganjam, with the district reporting 71 more in past 24 hours, it continues to report high number of deaths. The new Covid cases on Wednesday include 615 from Khurda district (including 427 from Bhubaneswar), 392 from Cuttack and 387 from Puri district. With 3,110 more getting cured, the total number of recovered patients increased to 1,05,295.