Odisha: Zero infection in Nuapada and Boudh, rest record 1,833 cases

BHUBANESWAR: The western districts of Nuapada and Boudh on Sunday did not report a single Covid infection even as the state added 1,833 new cases from among the 71,077 samples tested in the last 24 hours. Nuapada’s neighbour, Balangir, reported only two cases.
Nuapada has been testing close to 1,000 samples every day. Out of the 1,000, about 750 are made to undergo the Rapid Antigen Test.The Balangir district administration has been testing close to 2,000 samples daily, while Boudh has been screening around 800 samples.
In terms of active cases, Nuapada is in the second spot with 41, while Deogarh with 32 has the least number of such patients as on Sunday. Nuapada, which is close to Chhattisgarh, reported nil cases at least four times in July despite testing around 1,000 samples daily. When the second wave had hit home, this district had become a major cause of concern for the state government until almost the last week of May owing to the unusually high number of infections being reported from here. “We are watchful following a mild surge in Mahasumand part of Chhattisgarh. Besides maintaining the regular testing, enforcement activities are also going on as very few restrictions are in force here,” district collector (Nuapada) Swadha Dev Singh said.
According to the health department’s report, if the second wave started from February 18, it just took three months for Nuapada to bend the curve compared to the coastal districts with a similar population. The coastal districts of Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kendrapada, Nayagarh, Bhadrak and Cuttack saw a surge in cases in April. But the pace of fall in the daily Covid count in these districts has been extremely slow. A similar trend has been noticed in the northern districts Balasore and Mayurbhanj.
While the state’s cumulative infection count is inching close to 10 lakh, the capital city has been adding around 350 cases daily, on an average, in July. Its active cases, which had fallen to 1,192, are set to breach the 2,000 mark. The capital city also reported 15 Covid deaths with the government on Sunday confirming 67 more fatalities.