Omicron Scare: No Sign Of Community Spread In Odisha

At a time when Omicron cases are surging across the nation causing fear and apprehension, the Director of State Health Services, Bijay Mohapatra, on Friday sought to allay fears and said that there has been no sign of community spread of the new mutant in Odisha so far. 

He said the genome sequencing reports of five persons came out to be positive for Omicron on Thursday. Of them, one is not a foreign returnee. However, he has a travel history to some affected states. “Going by the present trend, it should not be regarded as community spread,” Mohapatra said. 

“Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik as well as the Central government has been underlining the importance of Covid appropriate behavior. While we are taking care of the technical part like vaccination and testing, people have long been asked to adhere to Covid appropriate behavior,” he added while spelling out the containment measures. 

“There are Covid-19 and Omicron viruses. The need of the hour is to check their transmission. And the best way to break the chain is by following Covid-19 appropriate behaviours like wearing masks, maintaining social distancing and avoiding crowded places,” he added. 

Notably, Odisha on Thursday reported 228 fresh Covid-19 cases, of which 32 are of 0-18 age group. With the fresh addition, the tally has gone up to 10,54,834. Khurda district topped the list by reporting a maximum of 105 cases. The State also registered two fresh deaths, taking the mortality toll to 8,460. 

At the same time, as many as 151 patients have recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the total recoveries to 10,44,594. The number of active cases stands at 1,727.