Odisha on Sunday registered a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases prompting the State government to postpone the proposed opening of primary classes from January 3.
Against 298 persons on Saturday, 424 persons tested positive on Sunday — 42% rise in infection in 24 hours. Khordha recorded 177 cases and Sundargarh district 38.
The daily cases crossed the 400-mark for the first time in the past two months. On October 30, the daily tally had last recorded 488 infections.
Similarly, there has been a sharp rise in persons infected with the Omicron variant too. The cumulative Omicron cases increased to 37 from 14. Of the 23 new cases, 11 are foreign returnees and 12 are local.
Officials said the travel history of local people was being verified. Seven people in Keonjhar district, who tested positive for Omicron, don’t have travel history. “All Omicron-infected patients have been quarantined in hospital facility. They are either asymptomatic or with mild symptoms. Their health condition is stated be stable,” said Bijay Mohaptra, Director of Health Services.
“After the COVID-19 graph plateaued for a few months, it started to move vertically — similar to the trend being witnessed across India. The national and the State’s trends are strongly correlated,” said Niranjan Mishra, State Director of Public Health.
He, however, said it was too early to call it the beginning of the third wave of the pandemic by analysing the week’s trend.
“We have, however, remained in readiness. There is a high probability of cases going up sharply in the coming weeks. People need to take maximum precautions to keep the infection at bay. We should not go to markets or crowded places unless it is really urgent. Besides, using masks will help reduce the chances of getting infected,” he said.
The State government has postponed the proposed opening of classes from Standard I to V in 23,000 schools from January 3.
Physical classes from Class VI to Class X would continue as usual. The Summative Assessment-1 of Class X being conducted by the Board of Secondary Education would begin from January 5 with adequate COVID-19 precautions.
As of now, 10,55,556 people have tested positive for COVID-19. Only 2,078 are active cases.