Bhubaneswar: State on Wednesday reported 1,216 fresh Covid-19 cases, which is 78.82 per cent more than the cases reported yesterday.
The State has reported 1261 cases, of which 187 are of 0-18 age group. On Tuesday, 680 cases were reported in the State while 424 cases were reported on Monday. For the first time since August 2021 second week, the State has reported more than 1200 daily cases.
Among the fresh infections, 710 reported from quarantine centres and 506 are local contacts, said the State Information and Public Relations (I&PR) Department.
Highest 456 cases were reported from Khurda district, followed by 166 in Sundargarh, 99 in Sambalpur and 80 in Cuttack. The State has also reported two deaths due to virus taking the toll to 8,466. The total active Covid cases in Odisha now stood at 3,981.
Meanwhile, the Omicron cases remained 37 in the State, of which four have been recovered from the disease.
“The transmission is very fast and other states too report a high number of cases. If a positivity rate jumps from 0.1 per cent to 3.8 per cent in New Delhi, we should rest assured that the cases in Odisha will climb proportionately. In two days, State’s positivity rate has gone past 1 per cent,” said Director of Health Services, Bijay Mohapatra.
Stating no one can limit the Covid cases, Mohapatra said, “We are, however, trying to break the transmission chain in the community. Although the severity of Omicron variant is low and the infected people don’t require hospitalisation as was felt in the second wave, we are trying to ready hospital beds and intensive care units as soon as possible.”
Amid resurge in Covid-19 graph in the State, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik yesterday asked concerned officials to keep all Covid hospitals ready within 10 days to face the emerging situation.
The Chief Minister instructed to make arrangements of beds, critical care units as needed during the peak time of the second wave of the pandemic last year.
Stressing on the vaccination programme, he directed officials to complete the vaccination target on a campaign mode and give priority to the teenagers in the age group of 15 to 18.