BHUBANESWAR: Odisha recorded 8,313 cases on Monday marking a drop from 9,541 the previous day. The test positivity rate (TPR) also dropped to 13.5 per cent from 14.5 per cent a day before.
However, even as the State government claimed that the TPR has come down from a high of 22 per cent (pc) to around 14 pc, health experts said the TPR derived from fluctuating testing figures with high share of rapid antigen tests (RATs) can not be an indicator of declining infection rate.
The drop in TPR is also attributed to the rise in the number of RATs in districts where the infection spread is acute.
Of the 4,495 samples tested in Angul, one of the worst hit districts, 4,017 were through RAT kits.Similar is the case with Boudh, which has been reporting high TPR for a long time. The RAT share was 1,125 out of 1,403 tests. In Sundargarh, 3,322 were RATs of the total 4,001 tests in a day.
Odisha is among the top six states where the share of RAT is higher than 70 pc. Telangana, Bihar, Gujarat, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam are the other states that are highly dependant on RATs.
Noted microbiologist Dr TM Mohapatra said the TPR derived following a high share of RAT is not an indicator of true infection rate.
“We have to conduct at least 50 pc RT-PCR tests and study whether the positivity rate is declining,” he said.
Internal medicine specialist Dr Niroj Mishra said the number of cases is on a declining trend across the country along with the State which is a good sign.
“But the government will have to focus on the superspreader events like marriage and funeral feasts in rural pockets, where the infection rate will take time to come down,” he suggested.
Nine districts reported less than 100 cases. There is no let up in fatalities as the disease claimed 35 lives.
Five from Angul, three each from Cuttack, Kalahandi, Kendrapara, Khurda, Nabarangpur and Sonepur and two each from Deogarh, Gajapati, Ganjam, Jharsuguda and Sundargarh succumbed to the disease.Additional Chief Secretary of Health PK Mohapatra said the Covid situation is improving and the number of cases is expected to come down below 3,000 by mid June.
Fresh cases
Khurda - 974
Cuttack - 593
Mayurbhanj - 532
Angul - 505
Sundargarh - 465
Balasore - 452
Dhenkanal - 407