BHUBANESWAR: With Odisha continuing to witness a gradual spike in new Covid infections and active case tally breaching the 3,000 mark, the state government on Monday mandated the use of masks in all health establishments across districts.
The Health and Family Welfare (HFW) department stated the government has decided to enforce the usage of masks in all health institutions in view of the fresh surge in Covid-19 cases across the State as well as the country. Officials and persons providing laboratory services have been directed to wear face masks, the department stated.
Health officials said the surge in active cases, as well as test positivity rate, is a matter of concern, though hospitalisation during the current wave has remained negligible so far. As per the department’s statistics, the state reported 382 more cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours pushing the active caseload to 3,032.
The new cases also pushed State’s daily test positivity rate marginally from 7.1 per cent to 7.13 per cent.
Officials said the fresh cases were detected from 5,352 tests. The new cases detected in the last 24 hours are fewer compared to the previous day on which the state had reported 502 infections. Odisha so far has confirmed three Covid deaths this year.