Odisha reports 11 more Covid cases, eye on XBB.1.16
Health department sources said the new cases were reported from four districts. Though all have symptoms, there is no disease severity in any of them.
Published: 18th March 2023 10:00 AM | Last Updated: 18th March 2023 10:00 AM | A+A A-
For representational purposes. (Photo | PTI)
BHUBANESWAR: Amid rise in number of Covid-19 cases, Odisha reported 11 new infections for the second consecutive day taking the active case tally to 40 on Friday.The state government has asked districts to intensify surveillance and put in place appropriate containment measures. Health department sources said the new cases were reported from four districts. Though all have symptoms, there is no disease severity in any of them.
Covid cases are in an upward spiral in the state after a gap of four months. While the fresh cases were detected among 4,495 samples tested during the last 24 hours, on Thursday 11 cases were detected from 5,050 samples. The infections had declined to zero in January after a surge in cases in August and September last year.
In view of increasing Covid infections in the country, the state government has decided to continue with the current testing target of 5,000 tests a day. The districts have been asked to advise people with symptoms to undergo Covid test and follow isolation protocol to prevent spread in the community. Director of public health Dr Niranjan Mishra said there is no reason to panic as the new cases are cropping up after the surveillance was intensified following the Centre’s advisory.
“Since it is flu season and people with symptoms are coming to hospitals, there may be a slight rise in cases. But disease severity will be less. We need not be worried as Odisha is conducting more tests than the national average and the positivity rate is low as compared to other states. The positivity rate is around 0.2 per cent in the state,” he added.
The Health department has advised people to follow respiratory hygiene and stay in isolation in case of symptoms of cold, breathing issues, cough and fever as part of precautionary measures.Though scientists involved in genomic sequencing of samples suspected the rise in infections in other states may be driven by a new variant of coronavirus - XBB.1.16 identified in Maharashtra and Gujarat earlier this month, it was not immediately known about its presence in Odisha.
