Bhubaneswar: An hour after revealing about the recovery of 10 COVID-19 patients, the State Health Department said that two more persons have tested positive for novel coronavirus. With this, the cumulative positive cases in Odisha touched the 50-mark. The details of the fresh cases, however, are yet to be known.
The Health Department in its website informed that 298 samples were tested on Friday of which two tested positive and the report of rest 296 samples came out negative.
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Earlier, two COVID-19 positive patients were discharged from hospital while 72-year-old from Jharpara area succumbed to the disease on April 7. With the recovery of ten COVID-19 patients on Friday, the active cases in the State had come down to 35. However, with two more confirmed COVID-19 cases, the active cases again rose to 37.
On Thursday, the State had reported six coronavirus positive case which included 3 from Bhubaneswar (37-year-old woman, a 9-year-old girl and 5-year-old girl) in Jharpara area and one each from Kalahandi (a 20-year-old boy), Dhenkanal (a 51-year-old female) and Medinipur in West Bengal (a 70-year-old male) who is under treatment at a private hospital.
In his regular briefing, Subroto Bagchi, Odisha's chief spokesman on Covid-19, said that the State government is taking steps to increase the COVID-19 testing capacity. With the installation of modern equipment COBAS in Bhubaneswar-based Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), the testing capacity has increased to 1000 per day.
The MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur has been permitted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to conduct Coronavirus testing, and it is the second Medical College and Hospital in the State after SCB in Cuttack that will help in carrying out COVID testing in the southern part of the State.
VIMSAR, Burla is the next to join the list of COVID-19 testing centres in Odisha. While MKCG MCH will commence sample testing from April 13, VIMSAR will begin testing from April 15.
Bagchi also said that 17 private hospitals have been notified by the H&FW department as fever clinics in Bhubaneswar and that the general public need to visit only these hospitals for treatment of flu-like symptoms.
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