Odisha among states with more than 20% positivity rate

BHUBANESWAR: The active cases in Odisha breached the one-lakh mark on Thursday, for the first time, after 10,649 people more tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours. Altogether 13 states and UTs in the country now have more than one lakh active cases, with Odisha being on the 13th spot (1,00,313 cases).
The number of new infections has grown by 2.1% in the state, on an average, in the last one week, which is more than the national average of 1.7%. The state has added more than one lakh new infections in the last 10 days.
While the state’s positivity rate was 20.69% on Thursday, it has been above 20%, on an average, for the last one week. While 29 of the state’s 30 districts, with the only exception of Malkangiri, have been witnessing a TPR of above 10% in the last one week, the TPR of 20 districts has been above 20% from May 6 to May 12.
The Union health ministry said Odisha is among the 24 states with a positivity rate of above 20%. It is also among the states still showing a rising trend in infections, the others being Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Punajb, West Bengal, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Puducherry and Manipur. With rising infections, the number of patients needing critical care has also gone up sharply. Currently, 2,433 patients are in ICU, including 570 on ventilator support.
In just two days, the number of patients in the ICU has gone up by 80, from 2,353 on Tuesday. The number of those on ventilator support rose by 77 from 493 until two days ago. While most ICUs in most hospitals in western Odisha are fully occupied, the overall ICU occupancy in the state is around 79%. Altogether 13,062 patients are hospitalised, which is around 13% of the active cases.
Additional chief secretary (health) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said the state is well prepared to tackle the situation. “We are adding hospital beds, including critical care beds, every day. People need not worry,” he added.
Jayant Panda, government’s technical adviser on Covid-19, said the case positivity, which shot up to 24% on May 7, has somewhat declined though it’s too early to gauge the trend. “By this month-end, it should decline further,” he added. Nineteen more succumbed to the infections, raising the virus death toll to 2,251.
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