BHUBANESWAR: Though the fresh Covid infection count in
Odisha has sharply increased in the past two weeks, there has been no significant rise in hospitalisations or deaths.
Odisha has added more than 4,300 new infections since March 22. However, the state saw only three Covid deaths in the same period, while around 300 patients are currently hospitalised, including 110 in ICUs. The state has reported only one death in the past one week, a government source said.
After 573 more persons tested positive on Monday, in the highest single-day infection count in four months, the state’s active cases rose to 3,358. Around 90% patients are in home isolation as they are either asymptomatic or have very mild symptoms.
In Nuapada district, which has been witnessing high daily infections and has 329 active cases now, only two patients needed intensive care in the past one week, an official said.
Jayant Panda, the government’s technical adviser on Covid-19, said, “As has been the trend so far, the infection is spreading very fast, thereby forming clusters. But it’s not leading to complications, requiring no hospitalization for most people in Odisha, unlike in states such as
Maharashtra. The severity, if any, is very rare. The symptom is mild to moderate in some, while most are asymptomatic.”
Ajay Parida, director of the
Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), said the lesser symptoms should not be a reason for complacency. “The variants, which are spreading now, may be less fatal. However, taking that as a comforting factor, if people start compromising on social distancing norms and some new more dangerous variant spreads, it may become fatal,” he added.