AIIMS Director Sounds Warning Amid ‘Rising COVID Cases’ In Odisha

New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: The second surge of COVID-19 still continues with the country reporting many thousands of cases per day. People should be careful and not lower their guard as the pandemic is not over yet, AIIMS Director, Dr Randeep Guleria said on Wednesday.

Speaking at an online event of the Health Ministry, Dr Guleria said “If we look at global scenario, increasing cases are being reported in many parts of the world.”

The AIIMS Director’s words should be an alarm for Odisha where the cases are gradually rising. In Bhubaneswar, where almost all are vaccinated, a rise in the cases has been reported. Absence of COVID appropriate behaviour at public places during the festive season could be a cause of concern.

A apartment in the city was declared micro-containment zone on Wednesday after detection of multiple COVID-19 cases. With the festive season just beginning and shopping sprees likely to increase one does not see signs of the virus ebbing in the state, the capital city at least.

The active cases in Odisha stood at 4,967 while the test positivity rate (TPR) stood at 0.82% on Wednesday. The TPR was 0.77% on Tuesday, 0.62% on Monday, and 0.76 % on Sunday.

On the other hand India added 18,833 new coronavirus infections taking the country’s tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,38,71,881.
The active cases declined to 2,46,687, lowest in 203 days, according to Health Ministry data on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Dr Guleria said the pandemic will eventually turn endemic in due course of time, like many previous pandemics have. “COVID pandemic will turn into mere illness and will become part of our day-to-day life. Majority of people with immunity will have normal symptoms like cold, cough, fever, and flu-like symptoms. But elderly people with low immunity may get severe illness in the form of pneumonia requiring hospital admission,” he said.

However, Dr Guleria warned that, at the current time, it is premature to say the pandemic has become endemic and we still need to be extremely cautious as we don’t know how will the virus behave in coming times.

Also Read: Four More Die Of COVID In Odisha, 1 From Bhubaneswar