Bhubaneswar: Odisha Government gears up to control the situation as COVID cases surge and apprehension is there that cases may flares up even as Odisha on Sunday registered 346 cases, the biggest spike in about four months.
Among the precautionary steps which have been switched on, the Department of Health & Family Welfare has directed all Health Care facilities run by the State Government to have dedicated Fever Clinics on their respective premises.
“COVID-19 cases are rising and anticipating higher case load at the coming times, it is reiterated to the earlier instruction that the following provisions are made in all District Headquarters Hospitals (DHHs), Sub Divisional Hospitals (SDHs), Community Health Centres (CHCs) and Medical College & Hospitals (MCHs),” the DoHFW has issued orders.
At least the fever clinic should have a facility for COVID-19 testing and Swab collection, apart from dedicated Isolation ward with Oxygen supported beds. Besides, the medical facilities have been asked to keep ICUs and HDUs with all logistic facilities.
There should be provision of adequate drugs, consumables, reagents, and test kits, PPE kits, and oxygen cylinders. The facility should have a contingency plan for managing sudden rise in cases.
“Adequate RRT, Home Isolation kits and follow up mechanism for home isolated cases. All health care personnel are instructed to complete COVID vaccination as per protocol including precaution does. A medical Officer should be designated as Nodal Officer for supervising treatment as per protocol,” the order read.
Meanwhile, Odisha on Sunday recorded 346 cases, the highest spike in over four months, pushing the tally to 12,90,538, the health department said.
The test positivity rate(TPR) shot up to 2.68 per cent from 1.7 per cent the previous day, it said. On February 22, the state had logged 428 cases.
The coronavirus death toll, however, remained at 9,126.
The fresh infections, detected out of 12,897 samples, comprise 49 children.
Khurda, where the capital Bhubaneswar is located, reported the highest number of single-day cases at 189, followed by 51 in Cuttack, the department said.
Odisha now has 1,310 active cases, while a total of 12,80,049 people have recovered from the disease so far, it added.
After Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) took steps, Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) have made wearing masks mandatory in public places, as part of precautionary measures in the fight against the virus.
BMC has started 25 centres for COVID-19 testing across the City. The step was initiated in the wake of rising cases of coronavirus in Bhubaneswar over the last one week.
While testing will be carried out from 8 am to 2 pm at Capital Hospital, at all 25 Urban CHCs in and around Bhubaneswar, tests for COVID-19 will be done during 9 am – 11:30 am and 5 pm – 7 pm, an official said.