Odisha Covid Curve Showing Flattening Signs

Bhubaneswar: In what could be seen as a sign of improvement over the Covid-19 situation in the state, the positivity rate in Odisha has witnessed a significant downtrend in the last few days. Though the state government ramped up testing facilities in the state and the number of tests being carried out daily rose to more than 30 thousand, the number of positive cases has not seen such a rise, indicating that the Corona Curve is on a declining trend in Odisha.

Odisha’s positivity rate which was 9 percent on the 29th of July varied between 9 percent and 11 percent till 5th August and by 11th August it has seen a decline to 6 percent. On the 11th of August, the number of tests carried out in the state stood at 32053, the highest ever daily tests. Out of these tests, the number of positive cases was 1876 – or just six percent of the tests carried out.

Giving importance to testing, the state government has ramped up the facilities and started mass testing of people for the coronavirus. Today, Odisha has more than 55 centers where tests are being carried out. The government has also targeted to increase the number of daily tests to One lakh per day in the near future. With this the fight against the pandemic will gain momentum and the administration will have a clear picture of the situation thereby helping make strategies to contain it.

Till date, the number of tests carried out in the state stands at more than seven lakhs which the government intends to double by this month end.

According to P K Jena, SRC, the situation in the state is slowly improving and the numbers indicate that the efforts of the state government to contain the spread of the disease are bearing fruits. We have increased the testing facilities to include a large number of people from all walks of the life. Now we have tested 724354 samples and we have targeted to reach more than 15 lakh tests before end of August 2020. People should come forward and test themselves. It will help identify the areas that need more attention.

According to Dr Sunil Agarwal, Senior Medical professional with MKCG Medical College, “When the testing numbers in Odisha were less, the positive cases were upto 80 percent. But the recent information shows that the positive rate has decreased tremendously. With the number of testing centers increasing and people voluntarily coming for testing, I think the corona graph will definitely flatten in the coming days. While it will be premature to say that it is declining trend, we can say that we are in a situation when the where the trend shows somehow lessening from day to day.”

If the current trend continues, by the last week of September, the positive numbers in the state will be very minimal and we can say that they can come down to double digits only. What the data indicates is the situation will be under control by September end or early October. It all depends on the peoples’ cooperation in the fight against the virus. People should come forward to test themselves in large numbers.

According to Dr Debasish Hota, Pharmacology Department, AIIMS Bhubaneswar, “Every virus has a peak and it comes to a stable stage, after which it slowly declines which is known as plateau. It then starts a rapid decline. We can say, Odisha in the last two weeks seems to be in the stable stage. In the next phase it will decline and by second week of September there will be rapid decline”. He also adds that, it will only happen only when the Country as a whole comes to a stage when the trend is stable.” Odisha government’s efforts have been tremendously helpful in containing the virus, he said.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s call for strengthening the healthcare facilities and continuous supervision of the day to day developments have surely helped a lot. While appealing the people to come forward for testing, he has also said money will not be a constraint for treatment of patients. From day one, the pro active efforts of the government have surely helped keep the situation under control.