Odisha's Covid-19 surge continues, high infections along Chhattisgarh border cause of concern

Odisha continues to witness a surge in the number of Covid-19 cases for the last few days. While the state reported 387 new cases on Thursday, 431 infections were detected on Friday.

As of April 21, the total number of active cases in the state stands at 2411. On the other hand, at least 197 patients have recuperated from the infection in the last 24 hours, reports said.

Speaking on the surging cases, Odisha Health Director Niranjan Mishra said, “Going by the data of GOI, there is a surge in Covid-19 cases, but there has been no report of exponential growth. There is only a slight growth in the number of cases.”

“So, it is hard to predict or say anything about the growing cases or when the cases will come down. But, I can say that the hospitalisation and death rates have drastically reduced this time. During the peak time, we detected around 1200 infected every day, but now it is only 300-400 a day. But, the growing trend might continue for a couple of more days,” he added.

He also expressed concern about the rising number of cases on the border of Chhattisgarh and visited Nabarangpur and Malkangiri to take stock of the situation. He directed health officials to keep track of the movements of people entering the state from neighbouring states. 

He advised officials to monitor the health condition of infected persons who are in home isolation. 

Meanwhile, India witnessed a total number of 11,692 cases in the last 24 hours and with this addition, the active number of cases reached 66,170 in the country.