Bhubaneswar: In a major revelation which is expected to provide the much-needed succour to people in Odisha ravaged by the second wave of Covid19 pandemic, the Health Department on Sunday said that the infection curve in the State has crossed its peak and started to decline.
Additional Chief Secretary of Health Department, Pradeepta Mohapatra informed that the State has so far witnessed its highest single-day tally in Covid infections on May 22 with the detection of a record 12852 positive cases in a day. Since then, the State has been continuously reporting a lesser number of cases of SARS-n-CoV-2.
Mohapatra explained that a few days ago the daily spike suddenly witnessed a sharp fall because of less testing in the wake of the Cyclone Yaas scare in several districts. But now, even though the testing has been restored to its usual capacity, the districts have reported considerably lesser cases.
"It means we can construe that the State has crossed its peak of second Covid wave on May 22, the ACS cited today's figures in support of his arguments and mentioned that despite increasing the tests to around 66K samples per day, the total number of positives detected today was 9541.
Overall, the State's positivity has come down to 14% at present. In terms of district-wise situation, Mohapatra said that TPR is on a declining trend in 19 districts with positivity slumping to as low as below 5% in 5 districts.
As far as caseload is concerned, nine districts namely Khordha, Cuttack, Angul, Sundargarh, Puri, Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bargarh account for around 60% of total infections.
Mohapatra claimed that the declining trend of Coronavirus cases in the neighbouring States like Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand is a huge relief as Odisha's bordering districts with these States are also exhibiting less positive cases. Meanwhile, in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, even though the number of cases is reducing but there are still concerns and so the respective borders have been sealed.
The ACS further said that the hospitalisation of critical patients is also on a downward trend in the State.
Commending Odisha's commitment to helping its other counterparts during this exigency, Mohapatra said that the State has provided around 25000 tonnes of oxygen to as many as 18 other States.