Amid a searing second wave, Odisha hits the brakes on testing

BHUBANESWAR: The Covid-19 surge in the State continues to aggravate  as it hit yet another peak with 4,761 people testing positive in the last 24 hours. The disease claimed five more lives during the period.However, even as the new cases soar to new highs everyday, declining tests have left health experts worried. The number of tests has come down from 37,245 on April 16 to 32,349 on April 19 pushing the positivity rate up from 8.44 pc to 14.71 pc in four days. 

Raising alarm that the low testing may worsen the situation at a time when identifying as many cases as possible is key to control the spread of infection, noted microbiologist and former member of ICMR Dr Tribhuban Mohan Mohapatra said Odisha government needs to accelerate testing on a war-footing.“At least 60,000 tests, including 30,000 through RT-PCR, should be conducted. The system put in place during the first wave should be revived and every district should conduct at least 1,000 RT-PCR tests. Since the infection is spreading fast, identification and isolation of cases should be the strategy apart from treatment and vaccination,” he said. 

Meanwhile, 23 pilgrims, who had recently returned from Haridwar Kumbh Mela, have tested positive. They have been isolated and test reports of 10 others are awaited. Sources said samples of 30 returnees were sent for RT-PCR test after they landed at Cuttack on Monday, of whom 13 were found to be infected. Similarly, 10 people of Rayagada district have tested positive after their arrival from Uttarakhand.

Additional Chief Secretary of Health PK Mohapatra said the transmission is rapid as the number of infection reached 4,761 in just 43 days from the lowest figure of 10 cases on March 5. It had taken 129 days to reach the peak on September 25 last year from 51 cases on May 20, he said adding that the testing is being ramped up to 50,000 a day, including 20,000 RT-PCR tests, with additional labs in three districts.  

The fresh cases spread across 30 districts included 2,785 from quarantine and 1,976 local infections. The number of infections crossed 500-mark in three districts with Khurda registering its highest single-day spike of 820 cases followed by Sundargarh (673) and Nuapada (534).Ten districts bordering Chhattisgarh logged 2,502 cases contributing nearly 52 per cent (pc) infections to the daily tally. The migrants from the worst-hit states continued to fuel the number of infections in Khurda, Cuttack and Puri districts.