BHUBANESWAR: Odisha recorded its biggest single-day spike of new infections with 1,981 persons testing positive for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours. With this, the tally climbed to 52,653.
Although the case positivity rate has dropped to 4.8%, the State is at 10th slot in terms of active cases as 15,807 patients are now under treatment at various Covid hospitals and Covid care centres.
Nine more patients, including three from Ganjam, two each from Cuttack and Mayurbhanj and one each from Kandhamal and Sundargarh succumbed to the disease taking the death toll to 367.
Of the 1981 new cases, 1225 were in quarantine and 756 local contacts. Five districts recorded more than 100 cases with Khurda contributing maximum 274 cases, followed by Ganjam (267), Kandhamal (179), Sundargarh (145), and Cuttack (131). As many as 40,761 tests, highest so far on a day, were conducted.
An analysis revealed, the State, which had reported the first 25,000 cases in 132 days, added the last 25,000 cases in only 17 days. The first 5,000 cases were registered in three months and now 5,000 cases are added to the list in every three days.
While no patient is on ventilator in 21 districts, the ventilator occupancy is in the range of 50 to 70 pc in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. At the current daily growth rate of 2.34%, the State expects over 75,000 cases by end of this month, of which around 23,000 would be active cases.
Keeping in mind the rising number of cases in Bhubaneswar, Sundargarh, Koraput and Kalahandi clusters, the State government has planned to add 4,165 beds in Covid care centres and 2106 beds, including 28 in ICU in Covid hospitals besides 150 ventilators.
The number of recoveries rose to 36,479 after 1,673 patients recovered on Wednesday.
Six high-burden districts contribute 56.8% of the State’s total active cases. Khurda topped with 16.5% active cases, followed by Ganjam (13.5%), Cuttack (7.4%), Sundergarh (6.4%), Sambalpur (3.8%), and Rayagada (3.8%).
Additional Chief Secretary of Health department PK Mohapatra said testing has been accelerated in last few days and it will be enhanced to 50,000 per day by next week. “There is possibility of rise in positive cases, but we expect the case positivity rate and fatality rate will be less as compared to last month,” he added.
The situation in Ganjam has improved in last 10 days as positivity rate has come down from 14.89 pc on August 1 to 3.5 pc on August 12 after tests increased from 2,148 to 7,631 during the period. The recovery rate has also increased from 68.8 pc to 82.2 pc.
RECOVERY RATE