Bhubaneswar: The Covid-19 cases are on the ascent in country. Many states like Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Delhi and UP keep on ticking the count. But even after 65 hours, Odisha's Covid-19 count still at one.
As per latest reports, the 12 samples sent for test yesterday reported negative. A new set of 6 samples have been sent for examination today.
The moot point here is why Odisha remain so down in the order of Covid-19 tally nationally.
The mine of data released by Odisha government's Covid-19 cell flashes up the silver lining.
As per the 2,131 registrations made by foreign-returned ones in Odisha, the inbound traffic to Odisha from high burden countries is very meagre.
Sample this. The top five countries gripped highly by nCoV are: China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain and Germany. The inbound traffic from these countries to Odisha is quite low. The registrations were done by returnees from as many as 80 countries.
However, the big watch factor here is when none has returned to Odisha from China and Iran - the two worst hit nations, a total of 21 each have returned from South Korea and Italy.
In contrast, a whopping 20 per cent or over 462 have come from UAE, where the total positive cases as of today are below 100; when cases in India stood at 147.
Data further revealed that 9 per cent or over 191 returned from USA, 85 each from UK and Malaysia, respectively. The Covid-19 count in such countries as of today stood at 3, 503, 1,547 and 553, respectively.
The above numerical analysis shows that Odisha's advantageous position comparably in the country is attributed to nil or limited arrivals from worst hit countries.
The break-up of the arrivals district-wise reveals that over one-third returnees belong to Bhubaneswar or Khurda district and is followed by Cuttack (11 per cent), Ganjam (9 per cent), Kendrapada (6 per cent) and Baleswar (5 per cent). The state government says foreign returnees from 29 districts have registered in the mandated overseas registration facility.
Age-profile of the returnees reveal that most were belonging to the age-group of 20-40 years, only 4.5 per or 96 are in the age-group of 60-80 years, the data revealed.
This data in a way helps the government in focussing on such districts who are most vulnerable to Covid-19 transmission. And it also in a way will help the authorities to augment the infra to tackle any Covid-19 exigency.
Other Decisions taken on Day 5 are:
* All religious institutions have to comply with the State Govt's social distancing guidelines. If temple administration can't ensure so then don't allow mass congregation.
* Govt dissuades panic buying of masks and sanitisers. Says humble soap is enough.