Covid-19: Odisha ramps up testing to nearly 53,000 a day

BHUBANESWAR: The state government has increased testing for Covid from around 20,000 tests a day to over 50,000 in a short span. On Saturday, it carried out 52,795 tests, its highest so far.
“On Friday, the state had conducted 47,887 tests. Within five days, we have increased tests from around 20,000 to a little over 50,000. We have been able to achieve the target in spite of the logistical challenge of getting a large number of test kits,” said a state government officer.
Of the 52,795 tests conducted on Saturday, 42,414 were antigen, 10,240 were RT-PCR and 141 were TrueNat tests. A total of 2,924 samples returned positive for Covid.
The highest number of rapid antigen tests — 8,001 — were conducted in Ganjam, followed by Jajpur (4,518). Other districts that saw more than 1,000 antigen tests are Gajapati (1,174), Kandhamal (1,050), Kendrapada (2,804), Balangir (2,498), Keonjhar (2,066), Khurda (1,050), Koraput (1,543), Mayurbhanj (2,467), Nuapada (1,358), Sambalpur (1,630) and Sundargarh (2,879).
The state government’s latest Covid data revealed that 9,08,508 samples have been tested since March 15. Of them, 6.61 per cent have returned positive, which is lower than the 9-10 per cent positivity of a week earlier. The state has carried out 2,079 tests per one lakh people.
The SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack and the RMRC here have together tested the bulk of the RT-PCR samples. On Saturday, the RMRC tested 1,897 samples and SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack, tested 2,436 samples. The Institute of Life Sciences (ILS) tested 1,390 samples.
Officials said Kendrapada led in terms of testing and checking the spread of the virus. The district has so far tested 40,267 samples. The per-million tests done there is 26,800, more than the national average of 20,514. The cumulative positivity rate is 1.95 per cent, below the national average of 8.89 per cent.
Ashok Mohapatra, vice-chancellor of SOA University, said, “The positivity rate is declining, in an indication that the Covid infection is gradually stabilizing. The curve is likely to flatten in two weeks.”
Inspired By