Four Odisha Districts In Red Zone, Most New COVID Infections Among Unvaccinated 19-40 Age Group

Bhubaneswar: Odisha is among seven states and UTs fuelling the country’s caseload. After a massive jump of 46 per cent with 7,071 new COVID cases on Tuesday, the daily caseload in the state surged to 8778 on Wednesday.

The daily test positivity rate (TPR) jumped to 11.76 per cent from 10.2 per cent a day ago and 6.5 per cent on Monday.

According to the Health department dashboard, five districts have more than 1000 cases each. Among them, four are in the RED ZONE – Khurda (11,049), Sundargarh (5,226), Sambalpur (3,065) and Cuttack (2,679). Balasore is in the ORANGE ZONE with 1,023 active cases.

Odisha now has 35,242 active cases.

An analysis by the Health department indicated that most of the new infections were among the unvaccinated 19-40 age group. While the state registered 27,637 cases in the first 10 days of the month, 3,042 were children below 18 years and the number of youths infected was at least six times more.

While around 16 per cent in the 0-18 age group were found infected on December 21, 2021, the number dropped to 10 per cent on January 10. It was 9 per cent on Wednesday (January 12).

“Vaccination rate low in 5 districts – Gajapati, Sundargarh, Cuttack, Angul and Mayurbhanj. A door-step vaccination drive is underway for beneficiaries yet to receive the first dose. ten mobile clinics carrying out vaccination in each block. The whole process to be expedited,” director of Health and Family Welfare, Bijay Panigrahi said on Wednesday.

Also Read: Daily COVID Caseload Inches Closer To 9000-Mark In Odisha; Positivity Rate Rises To 11.76%

Till January 10, Sundargarh had the highest test positivity rate (TRP) of 22.8 per cent, followed by Khurda (17.1), Sambalpur (15.8), Koraput (12.4) and Cuttack (11.1). Along with these five districts, Puri, Balangir and Jharsuguda are also in the RED ZONE with a TPR of over 7.5 per cent.