With the new COVID19 cases keeping Odisha's coronavirus count card busy, State's top health official on Monday said the zigzag graph of the virus will continue as the epidemic has taken an endemic turn in the State.
Elaborating it further, Odisha Public Health Director Bijay Mahapatra said, in an endemic state, one cannot report zero cases. But unlike epidemic, the cases will not record an unexpected rise. Moreover, the transmission will be localised vis-a-vis widespread in the epidemic state.
In a big development having a far-reaching impact, the top health official today has batted for the need of a booster shot for Odisha, though he hastened to add that a decision in this regard is pending with the technical team.
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"The requirement of a booster dose is being felt to prevent the spread of the lethal disease in the State," he opined.
With the festival of Diwali ahead, Mahapatra urged people to maintain COVID appropriate behaviour during the festival.
“Firecrackers have the potential to bring deterioration in air quality. In the backdrop of the pandemic, poor air quality will make people more susceptible to respiratory and lung infections.” warned the Director of Public Health and added that an SOP will be released soon.
Meanwhile, the new cases reported on Monday in the State stood at 425, including 71 children. The state has also recorded 4 fatalities. It is being observed that the daily cases in the State are oscillating between 400-500 since last month.
The report said that the three covid19 deaths are from Keonjhar, Bhadrak and Mayurbhanj districts.
With 211 new cases, Khordha District records the highest number of cases in the State in the last 24 hours. As per reports, the pandemic has reached the ‘Plateau Stage’ in the capital city Bhubaneswar.