The State’s highly-Covid-infected coastal districts are likely to witness drop in daily cases next week. “The peak of the second wave of Covid-19 came late in the coastal region.
While the situation has improved in western Odisha, the positivity rate is likely to dip in coastal districts by the second week of July,” said Health Director Bijay Mohapatra on Monday. He also said the State Government is well-prepared to handle a possible third wave of the pandemic. “There are three key areas to consider while dealing with the possible threat. Our primary goal is to increase vaccination, surveillance and keep the infrastructure ready ahead of the third wave. The focus will be on treating children, for which training of healthcare personnel has already begun,” he said. On the rising daily death rate in the State, Dr Mohapatra said the death toll would remain high for next few days as critical Covid patients are still in hospitals.
“We can accurately say how many Covid patients are dying on which day after the audit reports come out at the district level. Currently, 450 patients are in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) of various hospitals.
The risk of death from ventilator patients remains 90% to 92%. There are still 55 to 60 people on ventilator support. Usually, 30% of the patients go to the ventilator from the ICU. As long as there are critical patients, the toll will remain the same,” he said.