No let up in COVID-19 severity in Odisha as 15 pc patients in ICUs, positivity also rising

BHUBANESWAR: The daily COVID-19 caseload might have dropped below 500, but there is no significant change in the severity of the disease in the State. More than 15 per cent (pc) of the patients are still admitted to ICUs in critical condition.

Of the 2,925 actives cases as on Thursday, 446 patients are in ICUs with 86 on ventilators. While 452 patients have been admitted to different COVID hospitals, the rest are in home isolation. Significantly, the number of patients in private hospitals is more than that of government facilities. As many as 73 patients are on ventilators in private hospitals and 13 in government ones. Similarly, 320 patients have been admitted to private ICUs and 40 in government facilities.

Health experts warned against any laxity in adherence of COVID safety protocols as the caseload does not reflect the severity of the disease. It is good that the number of cases is coming down, but once tested positive the consequences remain same as earlier. There is every chance of it turning fatal if proper care and precautionary measures are not taken, they cautioned.      

Meanwhile, after a brief drop to below one pc, test positivity rate (TPR) is again witnessing a rising trend. The TPR has clocked over one pc for the last three days after it went down to 0.96 pc on December 6. The TPR was below one pc for consecutive four days in the first week of December.

The State recorded 343 new cases and five deaths in last 24 hours taking the tally to 3,22,642 and death toll to 1,794. Additional Chief Secretary of Health department PK Mohapatra said, “The threat is not yet over. The districts have been directed to keep guard until January 15 and not to reduce the number of testing,” he added. Meanwhile, the government has decided to repeat the serosurvey in Ganjam, Rayagada and Koraput by December 31. 

The districts had seroprevalence of 42.5 pc, 24.2 pc and 4.5 pc respectively in the first phase conducted in mid-August. One more round of the survey also will be conducted in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack in January.