BHUBANESWAR: THE Odisha Government on Thursday said Covid infection is rising due to contact through social gatherings, marriages as well as cremations and advised people to adhere to safety protocols. An analysis of Covid-19 situation in the last few days indicated that about 64 per cent people below 40 and seven pc of people above 60 have tested positive in the State and majority of the positive cases were detected among people who attended social gatherings, Mission Director of NHM Shalini Pandit said.
While people must wait for vaccines, it is necessary to make use of the ‘social vaccine’ which she said is to stick to safety protocol of masks and maintain a six feet distance. The Government is utilising its resources to fight off the pandemic and people must follow the norms, she said. The State has so far reported 30,378 Covid-19 cases. While 54 pc of the total cases are asymptotic, 46 pc patients are symptomatic. Among them, 72 pc are men and the rest 28 pc women.
The number of symptomatic cases higher because focus is on to test all showing symptoms, she said. Pandit said the State is now poised to ramp up its testing capacity up to 20,000 per day. From the first one lakh tests in 10 weeks to the last one lakh in 10 days, the State has conducted more than five lakh tests. Covid-19 testing is being conducted in 54 labs, including 35 Government facilities and rest private labs in 30 districts.
“We are conducting tests of 1500-2000 samples per day in Ganjam district. The number of infected persons has come down in last three days. Around 1000 beds have been added to the existing hospitals in the worst hit Ganjam, Khurda and Cuttack districts,” she said. The NHM director said the outcome of plasma therapy has been encouraging in the State. While so far 28 persons have donated plasma, 33 Covid patients have been treated with the therapy. Eight among them have already recovered and 15 others are recovering fast, she added.