Odisha Marks A Year Of Covid-19 Disaster, Govt Says No Time To Lower Guard

Bhubaneswar: On this day, exactly a year ago, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik declared Covid-19 a State disaster. These last twelve months will forever be remembered for bringing upheavals of enormous proportions in all walks of life, but in the midst of them, some reasons to cheer as well.

After months of uncertainty and anxiety, even as best possible way to fight the virus pandemic, i.e., vaccination seems to have delivered a silver lining of victory, but it is still a long way to go before everyone can rest assure from this biggest crisis of a century or so.

At a time when many States have once again begun to witness a resurgence of the virus cases and return to the lockdown mode, Odisha Revenue and State Disaster Management Minister Sudam Marndi on Saturday said that even though the State is still not under any sort of worry, he exhorted the people not to lower their guards at any cost.

Marndi said that in comparison to other states, Odisha government has done a considerably good job to keep the Covid-19 pandemic under control and at present, it is also effectively keeping in place the vaccination measures to eradicate the virus.

"Many states have recently witnessed a spurt in positive cases of Coronavirus. People have to be very cautious, wear masks, maintain social distancing and wash hands frequently to keep themselves safe," said Marndi.

"This is a very crucial period and people can't afford to be complacent," he added.

"Necessary steps will be taken according to the prevailing situation. We were able to keep the Covid-19 at bay due to timely enforcement of lockdowns and shutdowns last year. The recovery rate in Odisha is much higher in comparison to other states because of our alertness," said the minister.

According to State Health department data, the total Covid cases have mounted to 3, 38,121 in Odisha since the State tracked down its first Corona patient in March 16 last year.

The death toll has remained at 1,918 till Saturday. No new fatality has been reported due to the infection in the last 24 hours. Odisha now has 651 active cases, while 3, 35,499 people have recovered from the disease. The State has so far conducted over 85.98 lakh sample tests for Covid-19. The positivity rate stands at 3.93 per cent, says the Health Department.

On the other hand, India on Saturday witnessed 23,285 cases of coronavirus infection in a day, the highest in around 78 days, taking the total tally of Covid-19 cases to 1,13,08,846. The death toll increased to 1,58,306 with 117 daily new fatalities in last 24 hours.

The total active caseload has increased to 1,97,237, which now comprises 1.74 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate has dropped to 96.86 per cent.