BHUBANESWAR: With the Government still not rising up to the task of increasing testing to make the tracing, isolation and treatment efforts more effective and successful in containing the spread of coronavirus, the situation in the State is just getting worse by the passing day.
Continuing its upward spiral, Covid-19 cases in the State on Friday hit another high with 1,833 new infections, surpassing its earlier biggest single day numbers of 1,699 on Thursday and pushed the tally to 42,550.
Twelve patients also succumbed to the disease during this period, the highest fatality on a day so far.
The State is in fact witnessing its worst phase in the coronavirus outbreak as it has been reporting more than 1,000 cases per day for quite a prolonged period. The daily count rose from 1,337 on August 4 to 1,833 on August 6.
An even more problematic scenario gripping the major cities of Capital Bhubaneswar and Cuttack is also beginning to expose the lapses of the current disposition.
Khurda district, that includes Bhubaneswar, on Friday surpassed Ganjam district as the worst-hit with maximum 298 cases reported on the day against 279 in the latter.
Khurda also has the highest number of active cases at 2,973 as compared to Ganjam’s 2,617.
For the second time in a row, five districts reported more than 100 cases. Apart from Khurda and Ganjam that recorded 200 plus new cases, 152 people were infected in Rayagada, 124 in Cuttack and 110 in Sundargarh.
Kalahandi and Sonepur also saw their biggest single day spike of 84 and 33 cases respectively. New infections witnessed a significant rise in Balasore (69), Puri (67), Nayagarh (61), Jajpur (60) and Bhadrak (50).
The self-proclaimed tag of best prepared State to tackle Covid-19 is fast coming apart as it now stands 10th worst in terms of active cases and 13th in confirmed cases in the country.
The cause of major concern is the State Government continues to hobble on the issue of increasing testing despite instructions from the Central Government even as the positivity rate is consistently high at around 10 per cent.
The State has only managed to raise its daily testing to around 16,000 while the likes of Assam and Bihar are way ahead with around 58,000 and 60,000 tests per day. Even West Bengal has taken up its tests to around 25,000.
The reluctance of Odisha to accelerate tests is perplexing the health experts, who warned, the failure to identify optimum number of infected people and take corrective measures with ultimately cost the State dear.
What is worse is the State Government is also not disclosing the number of tests at the district-level.
Meanwhile, the death toll reached 292 as 12 patients fell victim to the highly infectious disease.
Here too, the numbers given by the Government is in question as many deaths with suspected Covid symptoms are reported but not recorded for not being tested.
The State, however, got a breather on Friday as the recovery was more than that of new cases for the second time in the last three days.
The total recoveries went up to 28,698 with 1,810 patients, highest so far on a day, discharged from hospitals, leaving only 13,560 active cases