About 17.52 lakh to get precaution dose in Odisha

Bhubaneswar:  Amid surge in Covid-19 infections in the state, administering of booster or precautionary dose of Covid-19 vaccine to health and frontline workers, and people aged 60 and above with co-morbidities began in Odisha on Monday, officials said.

As many as 17,52,838 people of the state are eligible to get the precautionary dose. The vaccination programme is going at 1,826 vaccination centres across the state, said State director of health and family welfare, Bijay Panigrahi.

The vaccination programme is going on at 3,116 sites, of which 1,340 are only for the vaccination of 15-18 years group, he informed.

According to officials, 3,53,173 health care workers, 3,52,265 frontline workers and 10,47,400 persons aged 60 or above years with comorbidities are eligible to get the booster dose.

Meanwhile, the state has reported 4,829 new Covid-19 positive cases including 384 cases in the 0-18 years age group in the last 24 hours.

As per the Information and Public department, Khordha district continued to report highest 933 cases, followed by Sundergarh (869), Sambalpur (644) and Cuttack (401), Balasore (210), Jharsuguda (189), Mayurbhanj (162), Puri (130) and Bolangir (104). Other districts reported below 100 cases in the past 24 hours.

With these fresh cases, the total active caseload in the state stood at 20,560. The daily test positivity rate (TPR) of Odisha on Monday was 6.5 per cent.

Even though 4 to 5 districts report a higher number of cases, Omicron is there in all districts. People should not take it in a lighter way and should follow all Covid-19 norms, said director of health services, Bijay Mohapatra.

“As it is on an upward trend, we cannot predict when it will come down. However, experts predict that Delhi and Maharashtra are likely to witness a peak by January 15. So, Odisha may see a peak 15 days after that,” said Mohapatra.

IANS