Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has set a ‘zero transmission’ target for itself and it seems to be working for it as no new COVID-19 cases have been reported in the state in the last two days.
According to data released by the Health and Family Welfare Department, a total of 1197 samples, the highest so far, were tested for COVID-19 on Wednesday and all them tested negative for the infection.
On April 14, five persons had tested positive for the virus, taking the state’s tally to 60. The virus has so far claimed one life in the state. With 19 persons having recovered, the number of active cases in the state is 40.
Government Chief Spokesperson on COVID-19 Subroto Bagchi, however, said that Odisha has not been able to flatten the curve yet and there was no room for complacency.
“Though Gujarat had reported its first positive case three days after a person in Odisha was found to have contracted the virus, its number has spiked to 766. Odisha cannot take the COVID-19 infection lightly because of detection of fewer cases,” he said.
He also gave examples of worst-hit states like Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu with 2916, 1578, and 1242 cases respectively.
