BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Thursday asked the district administrations to keep a close watch on a possible surge in new infections and active cases.
The development came on a day the state reported 3650 new infections, the highest single-day rise in the past six days, increasing the positivity rate to around 5.5%.‘been hovering around 3,000 for the past one week, dropping to 2,957 only once on Tuesday.
“As the situation is dynamic, we need to keep a close watch on early signs of a spurt in active cases or high positivity.
Effective monitoring must be operationalised at the district and subdistrict levels to ensure that whenever cases and positivity take leaps, local containment measures are promptly initiated ,” additional chief secretary (health) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra wrote to the district collectors and municipal commissioners.
He asked the district administrations to enforce Covid-appropriate behaviours by involving community representatives and local influencers.
Even as some districts have started reducing the number of beds dedicated to Covid care amid a let-up in cases, the health department asked the districts to plan in advance to strengthen infrastructure such as ICU beds, oxygen supply and other Covid consumables besides logistics for a possible third wave in September-October.
“Apart from expan ding infrastructure, there has to be a parallel exercise of ensuring enough human resource and orienting them to clinical management protocols is-sued by the government,” Mohapatra wrote.
Though there is a consistent decrease, focus must continue to be given on Covid appropriate behaviours ,testing, tracking, treatment and vaccination, he added.
Khurda (604), Cuttack(485), Jajpur (332), Balasore(278) and Puri (187) account for a large share of the new cases.The state now has 33,770 active cases.
The five districts of Khurda (5256), Cuttack (3580),Jajpur (3234), Balasore (2822)and Puri (1894) account for mo-re than 40% of the active caseload.
The officially confirmed Covid death toll of 1,885 this year crossed last year’s (1876) after the health department confirmed 44 more fatalities.