BHUBANESWAR: The rapid rise of Covid-19 cases in the country has manifested in Odisha too with daily case count doubling in the State in just three days.
The State on Tuesday reported 680 new infections, up by 60 per cent (pc) from the previous day and the highest in three months. The daily test positivity rate (TPR) also jumped to 1.31 per cent and despite curbs, the rapid rise in R-value from 0.8 to 1.3 in a week has become a big cause of concern.
According to researchers at Chennai-based Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc), the R-value for Odisha went up from 0.85 during December 23-27 to 1.3 in December 28-January 2 period.
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The individual R estimation for Khurda, Cuttack, Puri, Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Ganjam and Balasore was more than the State average during the period. The R-value was the highest 2.38 in Sundargarh, 2.22 in Puri, 1.99 in Cuttack city, 1.5 in Khurda, 1.62 in Sambalpur, 1.47 in Balasore and 1.35 in Ganjam.
R is very close to one in some other districts at there is a higher chance that it will soon tip over to greater than one, which means a high speed of virus transmission.
Senior researcher at IMSc Prof Sitabhra Sinha said a rising R-value is a further indicator of the next wave.
Odisha reports 680 cases
“There is a pan-India trend of a growing number of active cases similar to what we saw in the first and second waves. The administration has to restrict congregations and ensure strict enforcement to check the spread,” he said. With 263 infections, including 142 from Bhubaneswar, Khurda contributed around 38 pc of the caseload, followed by 69 cases from Sundargarh, 59 from Cuttack, 42 from Sambalpur and 34 from Balasore.
Khurda district was categorised yellow as active cases crossed 1,000 mark. Ten districts reported cases in double digits pushing the tally to 10,56,660. Among other districts where cases rose included Jharsuguda (25), Puri (15), Bargarh (14), Nabarangpur (13) and Ganjam (12). The State had logged 424 cases on Monday. On September 22, the daily case count was 734. The toll mounted to 8,464 as a 50-year-old man from Balasore district succumbed to the disease. The active cases soared to 2,767.
142 cases in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday marking a 64 per cent rise in 24 hours