BHUBANESWAR: Testing has drastically been reduced in the Capital Hospital even as Bhubaneswar is reporting over 300 cases a day.The timing of antigen tests for outdoor patients which used to be 8 am to 6 pm has now been reduced to 8 am to 1 pm which has led to less number of antigen tests. Sources said this has brought down the number of antigen tests from around 600 to 250 or 300 a day.
Hospital authorities said the move was essential to prevent crowding in the hospital. “We had to stop testing in the second half of the day as more people started gathering near the test facility during evening increasing the risk of spread further,” said a senior hospital authority. Besides, avoiding tests in the second shift also helped the hospital management to conduct timely tests of critical patients and those admitted to emergency wards. The hospital authorities, however, clarified that there has been no compromise in the number of RT-PCR tests being done at the facility every day.
One can get his/her RT-PCR test done any time before 3 pm, said the authority, adding that around 450 samples are being drawn at the hospital every day. Besides, collection of samples for antigen and RT-PCR is done as usual at the camps organised with the help of BMC.
22 CBI personnel test positive
As many as 22 officials and staff of CBI’s anti-corruption branch tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday. Sources said one of the personnel had contracted the disease and subsequently the virus spread among others in the office. CBI’s Economic Offences Wing (EO-VII) officials had conducted a raid at former minister and Badamba MLA Debi Prasad Mishra’s residence here on September 18 reportedly in connection with the Seashore scam. Mishra had tested positive. Sources said five officials of EO-VII, who visited MLA’s residence, were asked to remain under isolation.
Bhubaneswar tally stands at 19,544
The State Capital reported more than 300 cases in the last 24 hours which pushed the Covid-19 tally of the city to 19,544. The Covid death toll of the city also increased to 73 with four more fatalities in this period. BMC officials said a total 301 new cases were reported in the city on the day which included 218 local transmissions and 83 cases related to quarantine. They, however, said that this was the lowest single-day spike reported in the city so far in September as the previous lowest daily spike of cases in the month was 305 on September 18.