Will Odisha Ease COVID Restrictions, Reopen Schools In February?

Bhubaneswar: Will Odisha ease the restrictions in February with the COVID-19 trajectory showing a downward trend and positivity rate dropping below 10 per cent?

There has been a consistent drop in fresh infections since January 20 in the state, which witnessed a peak period between January 13 and 19 with a daily caseload of 10,000-11,000. The figures dropped below 5000 on Saturday (January 29) with 4842 people testing positive for the virus in the last 24 hours against 5,057 the previous day (January 28) and 5,901 on Thursday (January 27).  The state had reported 7,426 fresh infections on Wednesday (January 26), 5,891 on Tuesday (January 25) and 7,291 cases on Monday (January 24), 8,520 cases on January 23, 8,845 cases on January 22, and 9,833 cases on January 21.

However, Odisha is among the three states where both Omicron and Delta variants of COVID-19 are still prevalent. Since the severity in Delta cases is more, a senior health official said that the threat is far from over. While 98 per cent of total positives in Delhi are due to Omicron, 25-25 per cent of people are still getting infected by Delta, Director of Institute of Life Sciences, Ajay Parida said.

Currently, night curfew is on from 9 pm to 5 am to check the spread of the virus amid the third wave. Malls and shopping complexes have been asked to operate with a reduced number of customers. Only doubly vaccinated persons are allowed to enter market complexes, shops, malls. Haats and markets have been decentralised. While the ceiling at weddings has been capped at 100 with 30 for ‘Bharat’, funerals and last rites related gatherings have been allowed with a maximum of 50 persons. Physical classes in schools have also been suspended.

Notably, schools opened in Maharashtra on January 24 and Karnataka government has also given the go-ahead for offline classes from January 31, when night curfew will also end in the state. Delhi has also lifted weekend curfew and odd-even curb on shops amid a drop in cases but it has decided against reopening schools.

Despite claiming that the situation is improving, Odisha has so far adopted a wait and watch policy and is yet to take a decision on reopening schools. “We will monitor the situation for a few more days before taking a decision. The focus is on online classes for now,” said School and Mass Education Minister Samir Dash.

With Omcrion entering the community transmission stage, the state is treading carefully as cases might explode anytime due to this highly transmissible variant of COVID-19. “Cases have not come down completely, we have to wait for a few more days. Several parameters have to be gauged before relaxing the restrictions. I don’t think reopening schools will be a good decision in the current scenario,” Public Health Director Niranjan Mishra said.

Health Services Director Bijay Mohapatra said that the government will take a decision on lifting curbs after evaluating the situation. “We will provide technical inputs on where the positivity rate is increasing or decreasing, and where restrictions are needed. But the final decision will be taken by the government,” he added.

During the review meeting on Thursday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik advised the state administration not to be complacent and to remain vigilant and continue awareness programmes on COVID though there has been no significant rise in active cases recently.

Odisha, however, was among the 11 states in India with over 50,000 active cases till January 27 and Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya reviewed the COVID-19 situation, public health preparedness as well as response measures being taken in the context of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 in Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, on Saturday.