BHUBANESWAR: The number of daily Covid cases in the state stayed below 3,000 for the second consecutive day, with 2,870 fresh cases reported on Sunday from among the 71,122 samples tested, resulting in a test positivity rate (TPR) of 4%.
The marginal fall in TPR and case count may augur well for the state ahead of the central team’s visit on Monday to devise strategies for a faster drop in cases. The central team comprising two experts — Shibani Dutta from the All Indian Institute of Hygiene and Public Health and P R Mohapatra from AIIMS, Bhubaneswar — will try to find out the reasons behind the slow drop in cases in the coastal districts and in the state capital.
Bhubaneswar on Sunday reported 231 cases, the second successive day it has seen infections below 300, bringing some relief for the city authorities. The city also saw 249 Covid patients recovering, bringing active cases down to 1218. Bhubaneswar has been contributing the bulk of infactions to Khurda district’s caseload. Khurda on Sunday reported 384 fresh cases.
“We are studying the trend of infections in some districts which have seen a recent spurt. Intervention strategies and analysis will be done by other members of our team. In my opinion Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada are the two most problematic areas as they continue to report an increase in daily cases unlike Nayagarh and Khurda, where it is fluctuating. Cases in Cuttack and Jajpur are also showing ups and downs,” said Mohapatra, member of the central team.
As many as 16 districts reported cases in double digits. While Cuttack and Khurda taken together reported 824 cases, coastal districts of Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Jajpur, Bhadrak and Balasore together reported around 840 cases.
