BHUBANESWAR: Downward trend of the Covid-19 graph continued in Odisha for the fourth consecutive day as the State reported 7,291 new infections during the last 24 hours, 1,129 less than the previous day.
Five Covid deaths were also reported during the period. The test positivity rate (TPR), however, continued to remain constant at 11.7 per cent for the second day amid a sharp drop in the number of daily tests. The Health and Family Welfare department carried out testing of 61, 969 samples in the last 24 hours against 72,524 samples on Saturday. Khurda reported the highest 1,705 new cases followed by 646 in Sundargarh and 561 in Cuttack.
The continuous drop in new cases has brought some respite for the State government in its fight against the current wave of pandemic. However, officials of the Health Department advised people to remain alert citing the State could be in the stage of community transmission of Omicron variant of the virus.
Public Health Director Dr Niranjan Mishra said in many parts of India Omicron has replaced the Delta variant. This could also be happening in Odisha as 60 per cent samples during the previous genome sequencing in the State were found to be carrying the Omicron strain.
“When more cases of a new variant are found among local people having no international travel history, it should be considered community transmission. It has already been noticed in some of the places in our country where 80 to 90 per cent of the new infections are Omicron cases. The cases of the new variant are also increasing in Odisha and we have to wait for the analysis reports to draw a conclusion regarding its community transmission in the State,” Dr Mishra said.
As many as 349 Omicron cases have been reported in Odisha till January 19. At least 148 samples out of a total 249 sequenced at the Institute of Life Sciences (ILS) had been found to be infected with the new transmissible variant on the day.
Daily count dips in State capital
Bhubaneswar: The daily infection count dropped below 1000-mark in the State Capital after a gap of 13 days as the city reported 925 new cases in the last 24 hours. The active case tally of the City also came down to 10,746 after recovery of 1,357 more patients. Health experts, however, raised concern over declining test rate in the city and said the drop in the daily infection could be due to fall in the number of daily tests in the last 24 hours. The civic body which used to conduct tests of around 8,000 to 10,000 samples a day, carried out test of only 5,034 samples in the last 24 hours.