BHUBANESWAR: As Covid-19 cases witness a surge in the State Capital, the rapid antigen test being conducted free of cost at urban PHCs and CHCs has registered a 10-fold rise since its launching on August 11. Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) sources said the number of test, which used to be around 100 at the beginning, has now increased to over 1,000 daily.
The health drive, which was started at nine CHCs and PHCs initially, had reported 107 tests on the first day. However, the number has increased to 1,085 on Friday and 1,021 on Saturday. The test facility has also been increased to 19 urban PHCs and four CHCs.
While the test is being conducted in 21 centres every day from 8 am to 2 pm, it is conducted in other two centres in the South West Zones on alternate days. Citizens should go to their nearest urban health centres and get the testing done free of cost, officials said.
409 fresh cases in Capital
Bhubaneswar recorded 409 new cases in the last 24 hours taking the tally to 12,812. The death toll increased to 47 with one more person succumbing to the infection during the period. It included 241 locals cases and 167 from quarantine. As many as 12 mediapersons and six government employees were among the patients who tested positive while undergoing quarantine. Around 10 persons from VSS Nagar were also infected with the virus. The source of infection in this cluster outbreak, however, is yet to be known. The city now has 4,886 active cases with total 7,867 recoveries.