COVID-19 Odisha: cases may touch 150 by Apr 30, more female positives than nationally

Bhubaneswar: Even as Odisha takes a meagre share of below 1 per cent in the country's Covid-19 pie, the gender divide of novel coronavirus positives in the State presents a bit contrasting scenario vis-a-vis nationally.

When the Union Health Ministry recently said only 24 per cent females in the country are Covid-19 positive, the proportion in Odisha stands higher at around 35 per cent.

As per data available with the State Health Department, the proportion of male Covid-19 positives in the State stood at around 64 per cent. Among the 54 positives in Odisha, 35 are male and the rest are females, including two girl child aged 9 years and 5 years.

The data shows Odisha has no female Covid-19 positive in the age-bracket of 60 plus years. And a lone female novel coronavirus positive in the State belongs to the age-group of 50 - 60 years. The State has two Covid-19 positives in the age-group of below 10-years.

When the novel coronavirus positive cases are seen proportionately, a whopping 80 per cent of novel coronavirus positives among females belong to 30-50 years age-group. The proportion of Covid-19 positives in the age group 50-60 years stands at 5 per cent.

A look at the share of female alone Covid-19 positives in two extreme age-groups like 0-10 years and 60 and above years reveals that when novel coronavirus positives in the age-group of 0-10 years stood at 10 per cent, the proportion in 60-plus years stood nil.

The significant observation here is nationally the gender divide of Covid-19 positives in the age-group of 0-12 years reveal that more positive cases have been reported among girls than boys. The proportion has been in the ratio of 59:41.

However, as on today, the trend in Odisha shows 100 per cent Covid-19 positives in the age-group of 0-12 years are girls.

An analysis of State health department data shows Odisha is yet to utilise its 100 per cent Covid-19 testing capacity. At present State has a capacity to test 475 samples, but the utilisation for the period of April 1-11 stood at around 62 per cent.

During the last 11-days, Odisha has conducted a massive 3,249 Covid-19 tests, which is 84 per cent of the tests conducted since February 1. And showing a strong positive co-relation, the total novel coronavirus positives detected in the last 11-days (April 1-11) account for 92 per cent of the total Covid-19 positive cases detected till date.

The Covid-19 positivity rate in the State during the last 11 days has more than doubled to around 1.53 per cent vis-a-vis 0.65 per cent for the period of Feb- March.

A look at the current trend of positives shows the Covid-19 positive count in the State may hover at around 150-mark by April 30, when the extended lockdown in the State is going to end.