Critical care needs a relook as COVID-19 fatality rate goes up in Odisha
BHUBANESWAR: Even as the test positivity rate (TPR) dropped by one per cent during last 10 days in Odisha, the case fatality rate (CFR) rose during the period indicating that critical care facilities in the State need a relook.
As per the analysis of the infection pattern from October 7 to 16, the TPR declined from 6.3 pc to 5.3 pc whereas the CFR went up from 0.39 pc to 0.64 pc. The State recorded 25,347 new cases and 163 deaths during the 10-day period.
Odisha is one of the few states where the fatality rate is slowly but steadily rising as compared to the previous month though the national average declined to 1.52 pc since March 22.
The number of new deaths shot up from an average of nine to 16 a day. Although the State Government has so far announced 1,174 Covid related deaths, including 53 deaths due to other underlying diseases, sources said the actual death toll would be more as a number of death reports received from districts are awaiting audit.
While the State dashboard pegged the number of death of Covid patients due to other underlying diseases at 53, sources said, the actual death toll under the category would be at least six times more.
As per the State Covid dashboard, the number of deaths due to Covid and other than Covid in Cuttack district is 98 and four respectively. But the statistics shared by the district administration indicates that 152 people with other underlying disease had succumbed till October 11.
Similar is the case with Nuapada, Kalahandi and Balasore districts where the number of deaths has already crossed 20, 25 and 75, but the department data maintained only one death in Nuapada followed by 17 in Kalahandi and 62 in Balasore besides five non-Covid deaths.
The Government has formed a three-member team to audit all deaths related to Covid but sources said, it is not being conducted regularly leading to long pendency of death reports.
State sees constant decline in COVID cases
The number of new infections dropped below 300 in the worst-hit Khurda district as the State recorded 2,196 new Covid-19 cases in last 24 hours taking the tally to 2,66,345. Of the new cases, 1,274 were from quarantine and 922 local contacts.
Death toll in the State rose to 1,121 as 17 more patients, including five from Khurda and two from Cuttack succumbed to the disease. As many as 2,842 patients recovered on Saturday bringing down the active cases to 20,944.
A total 2,44,227 patients have recovered so far. With 41,353 tests in last 24 hours, the State crossed the milestone of four million tests in seven months.
216 new infections, four deaths in city
Despite drop in cases, the State Capital recorded four more Covid related fatalities in the last 24 hours pushing the death toll to 133. The city also reported 216 new cases and 307 recoveries on the day.
As many as 161 cases of local transmission and 55 cases of quarantine were reported. The new cases increased the infection count of the city to 26,995.