Odisha on Wednesday recorded a massive 38.08% jump in COVID-19 cases , with 8,386 persons testing positive.
It is for the first time that the State has breached the 8,000-mark, causing significant worry for the government. The State reported an increase of 2,313 cases, in addition to over 6,073 reported on Tuesday.
Khordha, of which the capital city of Bhubaneswar is a part, is the worst-affected district, reporting 1,840 cases. It is followed by Sundargarh with 933 cases and Jharsuguda with 433 cases respectively.
The jump in fresh cases pushed the State’s active case burden well above the 50,000-mark. The State’s caseload has now touched 4,28,515. After recovery of 3,71,200, active cases stand at 55,245.
The steep rise in daily cases came days after Odisha reported a daily increase of above 6,000 cases for the past six days. It had prompted C.B.K. Mohanty, Director of Medical Education Training, to claim that the COVID-19 pandemic had plateaued in the State.
Odisha’s test positivity rate clocked 19.77% on Wednesday compared to 16.48% reported on Tuesday.
Districts such as Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Bargarh, Sambalpur, Balangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, Koraput, Rayagada and Malkangiri, which are in close proximity with Chhattisgarh, have been found to be in the red, contributing a high number of positive cases.
Expressing concerns over growing cases, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the double and triple mutants of the virus were triggering rapid spread of the disease and the youth were found to be affected most in the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Patnaik had held a high-level meeting with all District Collectors and Superintendents Of Police on Tuesday evening.
Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra pointed out that to meet the growing demand for hospital beds, the government would come up with real-time bed management system and that it was keeping a close watch on the movement of infected persons from neighbouring States.
According to P. K. Mohapatra, Additional Chief Secretary (Health), 60% of total active cases were found in seven out of 30 districts. There were 31,471 beds identified for COVID-19 patients and apart from beds in intensive care units, the State was trying to arrange oxygen facilities in 17,495 beds, he said.
The government also issued a standard operating procedure for judicious use of oxygen. “The majority of COVID-19 patients have mild illness. Out of 100 patients, 80 are treated at home or COVID care centres. Of the remaining 20, 17 have moderate disease, needing oxygen beds. Only 3 are in ICU and are treated with oxygen therapy by Non Re-breathing Mask (NRBM), non-invasive ventilation (NIV), High Flow Nasal Cannula (HFNC) and invasive ventilation,” says the SOP.
It recommends the flow of oxygen should be adjusted to lowest possible level to target an oxygen saturation of 92% to 94% for the hospitalised COVID-19 patients. The SOP emphasised on monitoring of safety and audit of oxygen stock at regular interval.
To assuage rising anxiety among patients, the government said that there were sufficient stocks of Remdesivir injection and Favipiravir tables in the State. Life-saving drugs were released by Odisha State Medical Corporation as and when required. The Centre had allotted 21,000 vials of Remdesivir injection for Odisha for the period of April 21 to 30.
