Bhubaneswar: The vaccination drive will be accelerated in five municipal corporations and six district headquarters of Odisha with a higher positivity rate.
Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Pradipta Mohapatra said all people aged 18 years and above in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Sambalpur and Rourkela, besides Puri, Khurda, Bargarh, Bhawanipatna, Nabaranpur and Koraput, will be vaccinated on a priority basis.
Cuttack has a TRP of 33 per cent, Khurda (29.12) and Puri (23.32). Khurda, Cuttack, Angul, Sundargarh, Puri, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Balasore and Bargarh also account for 60 per cent of the total number of COVID-19 cases.
So far, 30 per cent of people in 45+ age groups have been inoculated, he added.
The health secretary further said that the COVID-19 situation in Odisha was improving as occupancy of general beds had dropped from 52 per cent to 46 per cent and that of the critical care beds from 82 per cent to 72 per cent.
Every district headquarters hospital will have one press swing absorption oxygen plant and RT-PCR laboratory by August, he added.