‘One Among 2 Under Hospital Care In Odisha Has Already Tested Negative For COVID-19’

Bhubaneswar: The 20-year-old followed social distancing norms to the T and also the lockdown guidelines. But one day, he gave into frequent calls from his friends to join them for a match of cricket and ended up contracting COVID-19.

“None them had any symptom of the infection. But one among them had returned from Baharin. And now, the 20-year-old is in a COVID hospital, recuperating,” said Nation Health Mission Director Shalini Pandit, while explaining the positive cases trend in Odisha.

In this case, she was referring to the two COVID-19 cases in Kalahandi district.

“To protect our families, we have to follow the social distancing norms and wash hands after returning home from outside as two small children have already contracted the infection in Odisha,” she said.

Pandit said that Odisha has so far been able to keep the positive cases curve under control as compared to other states because of strict adherence to the lockdown guidelines and social distancing norms. “With 60 cases, Odisha is fourth from below among states in India. It has one of the lowest COVID-19 positive rate,” she said, while explaining why this has nothing to do with the number of tests being conducted in the state.

Of the total 5500 tests conducted so far, only 60 pateints have been found to be positive, which boils down to 1.08 per cent, she said.

As compared to Odisha, the corona positive rate of Delhi and Tamil Nadu is 11 and 9 per cent respectively, she added.

She attributed it to the awareness among the people of Odisha and their resolve to stick to the lockdown guidelines.

Stating that over 200 tests have been conducted in Malkangiri and as many in Kalahandi and over 300 in Balangir, she said that the number would be increased in the days to come. “The tests are being conducted for those with foreign travel history and symptomatic cases. It will be extended to asymptomatic cases to reduce the risk factors,” Pandit said.

Further elaborating on the challenges, she said it was important to stick to the lockdown guidelines despite the hardships to break the transmission chain. According to an ICMR study, a corona positive patient can infect 406 people within a span of 30 days but the number can come down to two if the lockdown guidelines are strictly imposed. “Our objective is to identify these two cases by conducting more number of tests. This would bring the rate of transmission to zero,” she said.

The NHM Director further said that the state had readied over 3000 beds to treat COVID-19 patients. “We have only 41 patients and among them, only two are under hospital care. Of the two, one person has already tested negative but because of other health complications, he can’t be declared as recovered,” she said.

The patient will be declared cured once he is discharged from the hospital, she added.