Preparing for the worst in Odisha
In the midst of India’s frightening surge in Covid cases, the situation in Odisha appears to be low key at present. But make no mistake, the state is bracing for the worst too. For the last four days, it has been logging over 6,000 cases. When the first wave unleashed itself last year, the state hit the peak on September 25 with the highest daily caseload of 4,356. That was a gradual rise, but the current wave has been at a cracking speed—from 394 daily cases on April 1 to 6,116 on April 25. The state’s total tally now stands at 4,07,457. What is of concern, however, is its test positivity rate (TPR) of 16%, almost on par with the national daily average. At present, special focus must be on the 10 districts bordering Chhattisgarh, where the transmission has shown no signs of a let-up. The TPR in some of these districts is well over 30%. The Naveen Patnaik government has activated hospitals and oxygen-supported beds as the demand for hospitalisation has picked up pace. Similarly alarming has been the scenario in Khurda, the seat of the state’s administration, where the TPR is 23%. Besides, most critical patients from different parts get referred to Bhubaneswar due to the concentration of health infrastructure. With the capital city also reporting a high number of cases, steps must be taken to avoid chaos at all cost.
The Odisha government already has over 12,000 beds in place in 70 dedicated Covid hospitals. It plans to add another 8,000 in such facilities apart from over 50,000 beds in Covid care centres. Currently, just about 25% general beds are occupied whereas 30% ICUs and 16% ventilators are in use since 3,000-odd patients have been admitted while the rest of the 42,000 confirmed cases are in home isolation. Cases in Odisha are expected to peak by the end of this month and the first week of May, which means the numbers would continue to swell. This wave has been unpredictable and shattered old patterns. The government must be fully prepared to avoid a replay of Delhi, Gujarat or Maharashtra. It is also equally important that it ramps up its daily testing numbers to understand the actual spread of the transmission so that it can remain ahead of the curve.