BHUBANESWAR: A study has placed Odisha among the top three states in the country for quality COVID-19 reporting. The study by researchers from Stanford University, Tech Industry (USA) and Aerosol Industry (Switzerland) on COVID-19 data reporting score across India has revealed that Karnataka, Kerala and Odisha lead the nation in quality reporting.
The average scores for three top states were Karnataka (0.61), Kerala (0.52) and Odisha (0.51) across four categories of availability, accessibility, granularity and privacy. The study said that Odisha is amongst a select few states to have an independent State Dashboard for COVID-19 reporting.
Odisha has scored high on availing most COVID data on rich visualisation, accuracy in reporting and protection of privacy of citizens while reporting data on the pandemic. The precision in reporting enabled Odisha to make data-driven decisions for better public health and enabled independent agencies and the public to become aware of the nature of the pandemic.
The study said precision reporting has led to citizens of Odisha becoming more aware and cautious of the spread in their own districts and blocks.
Odisha, right from onset of the pandemic, has continued to adhere by WHO’s sub-national reporting norms prescribed in its COVID-19 Global Surveillance Guidance. This continued adherence has helped not just the State Government but also Centre in the decision making process for public health matters related to Covid-19.