Bhubaneswar: Odisha is witnessing a slow and steady decline in the number of infections and the important parameter of Test Positivity Rate is going down each day. On Tuesday, the state reported 5896 Covid-19 positive cases – nearly 60 percent decline from the highest daily infections reported on 23rd May. The Test Positivity Rate is also witnessing a decline for the last two to three weeks. While the test positivity rate in the state stood at nearly 22 percent on 23rd May, it gradually decreased to single digit by the end of the first week of June. For the last three days, the TPR of the state has remained under ten percent. On Tuesday the TPR of Odisha was 8.5 percent. Odisha has been continuously increasing its testing activities in different districts. The total number of tests has remained more than 65 thousand per day for the last ten days. On Tuesday, Odisha conducted 68896 Covid-19 tests.
The declining trend is reported from all major districts that hitherto contributed the maximum number of cases. Sundargarh has seen the sharpest decline in the number of cases from more than two thousand cases in the first week of May to 113 today. The twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack and the districts of Khordha and Cuttack, which saw the covid numbers rise in the month of May, registered a continuous decline in after May third week. Today while the TPR of Khordha remains under ten percent, Cuttack also witnessing a decline in the TPR. The districts which saw a late rise in the number of infections continue to be facing the challenge of higher TPRs. Jajpur, Puri and Kandhamal have the highest TPRs today.
In terms of active cases, 11 districts are presently in the red zone having 2500 active cases. Khordha has the maximum number of active cases at 10535. Nuapada, Gajapati, Deogarh, and even Ganjam have the least active cases at 301, 472, 496 and 755 cases respectively. The trends from the districts show that the decline has also been speedier. The recovery rate in the state has also seen an improvement with more than 90 percent. In the last few days, Odisha witnessed more number of recoveries than infections.
The declining numbers can be attributed to the strict implementation of lockdown by the administration. According to Dr Debasish Hota, Professor, Pharmacology, AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, “During the second phase of the pandemic, we saw awareness was more among the people. They adhered to the guidelines than last time suo motu. The lockdown also played an important role in minimising the infections. Rapid vaccination by the state government also helped in rapid declines. We can expect that in another seven days it will be under control.”
According to Dr Suni Agarwal, Professor, Dept of Pediatrics, MKCG Medical College, “The declining Test Positivity Rate of Odisha is indicating that the situation is getting under control. Any TPR below ten is an indication that in the coming days it will only decline further. We should wait for the TPR to come down to below five percent so that restrictions eased. We can expect that by the end of this month, the TPR comes down to one percent. There are two types of peaks- urban peak and rural peak. Odisha’s rural peak started late and that’s why it is also declining slowly. Maintaining Covid appropriate behavior will definitely help us check any third wave of the pandemic.”
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