CM Naveen Patnaik To Address People Of Odisha This Evening

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will address the people of Odisha at 7 pm on Wednesday.

He is likely to speak about the COVID-19 situation in the state, official sources said.

Notably, the government had further relaxed the partial lockdown norms in the state from August.

However, the latest data assessment by the Chennai-based Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc) has set the alarm bell ringing. Bhubaneswar and Puri have reported an R count of over 1 between July 23 and August 1. The R-value was the highest at 1.24 in Bhubaneswar, followed by 1.13 in Puri and 0.97 in Cuttack city. This was more than the state average of 0.89 per cent. Besides Cuttack (0.91) and Khurda (0.94) districts, the R estimation was 0.92 in Kandhamal.

Also Read: Rising COVID R-Value In Bhubaneswar & Puri Rings Alarm Bells

A senior researcher at IMSc Prof Sitabhra Sinha told the media that the situation can rapidly escalate in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri if proper containment measures are not put in place. “We must be very cautious while opening up places that can lead to crowding as these can turn into potential super-spreaders events,” he warned.

An ‘R’ value of 1 means one patient will, on average, infect at least one more person.

“The fact that the ‘R’ value has risen to greater than 1 in several states around the same time suggests that this rise in active COVID-19 cases is coordinated and systemic. The ‘R’ value for Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata also exceeded 1 around the same time,” he added.

This has also lead to speculation about the possible third COVID-19 wave, though the Health Ministry has said that the second wave is “far from over”.