Even as the announcement on the next phase of Covid19 restrictions and relaxations is expected to come on July 31, Director of the Directorate of Medical Education & Training (DMET) in Odisha, CBK Mohanty on Wednesday said that the process of completely unlocking the State should be done in phased manner and not in one go.
“Unlock process should be carried out in a staggered way or in step-wise manner. Therefore, it is not possible to completely unlock the state in one go. We are reviewing the situation everyday and based on the positivity rate on the deciding day, unlocking announcements will be made,” said Mohanty.
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It may be noted that the extended partial lockdown will come to an end at 6 am on August 1.
“The relaxations in Covid-19 norms will be taken after taking into consideration the virus transmission, case load and people’s adherence to Covid protocols. However, keeping in view the number of cases reported everyday in some districts, my personal opinion is that the restrictions should be there in force for few more days as people are not following Covid guidelines properly,” Mohanty added.
Speaking on the number of deaths in the State, the DMET Chief said, “The audit of the remaining deaths will be complete within 10 to 15 days. Since the (Covid) affected people are entitled to get a variety of benefits and compensation, we are taking all aspects into consideration before submitting the final audit reports.”
Speaking over the issue, Director, Health Services, Dr Bijay Mohapatra said, “Experts have predicted the possibility of a third between August and October. Yesterday, the Centre informed that as many as 54 districts in the country have reported more than 10 percent test positivity rate till July 26 and no district from Odisha finds place in that list,” he informed
However, Odisha is yet to get rid of the second wave as positive cases in Khordha and Cuttack districts still remain worrisome despite the fact that the positivity rate has come down considerably in these two districts since the last few weeks.
“The State government is ready to face the third wave if at all it hits Odisha. Surveillance is underway and testing has also increased. People need to adhere to Covid appropriate behaviour. The positive cases in Khordha and Cuttack is fluctuating every day as these two places have the most number of mobile population, ”Mohapatra added.
“The deaths which are being reported every day is audited and the numbers are not compiled in 24 hours time. Therefore, there is no need to panic,” informed Mohapatra.