Bhubaneswar: The third wave has already peaked in a few big cities and the COVID curve has started to bend. This was revealed in an analysis of the daily COVID caseload in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.
Considering this trend, it is being assumed that Odisha, which has been reporting over 10,000 cases since January 13, is likely to witness a peak before the projected January end.
“The infection has swept the entire population owing to its high transmissibility and the cases may peak before the end of January,” director of Institute of Life Sciences Ajay Parida told a national daily.
He further said that decline, as the steep spike, will also be faster than being predicted.
Speaking to media on Tuesday, Director, Health Services, Bijay Mohapatra said that it will take another 10 to 15 days to determine whether cases will rise or fall in Odisha.
“The state is no longer staring at a dangerous situation. hospitalization rate and requirement of oxygen comparatively less in this wave. At present, general bed occupancy is 9 per cent, ICU is 15 per cent while 5 per cent-6 per cent patients are on ventilator support,” he said.
Paediatric admission is also very less, he added.
Odisha added 11,086 fresh COVID-19 cases to its affected tally on Tuesday and currently has 80,914 active cases with six districts – Khurda (27010), Sundargarh (10589), Cuttack (5808), Sambalpur (3704), Balasore (2936) and Mayurbhanj (2528) – in the RED zone.
Till Monday, 1200 of nearly 75,000 COVID patients in the state were in the hospital.
“As the infection rate dissipates, the active cases will also fall sharply and so will be the hospitalisations as the bulk of cases is showing mild symptoms,” Director, Public Health, Niranjan Mishra said.
