The Odisha government on Tuesday announced start of plasma therapy at three selected hospitals from Wednesday.
The therapy will be taken up at two private hospitals in Bhubaneswar and one in Cuttack. The State-run SCB Medical College Hospital has been identified as the nodal centre.
At a State-level review meeting on the COVID-19 situation chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, it was decided to add 200 intensive care unit beds within the next seven days. Moreover, the present 7,000 per day tests would be scaled up to 9,000 within a week.
State government to focus on five districts
The State government would focus on Ganjam, Khordha, Cuttack, Jajpur and Sundargarh districts where the situation has worsened following arrival of migrants.
Mr. Patnaik ordered mobilisation of additional human resources, ventilators, ambulances and medical beds for Ganjam district — epicentre of the pandemic. It reported 4,335 of the 14,280 positive cases. Similarly, 44 persons had lost lives while the State’s tally is 74. Hundreds of COVID-19 warriors have tested positive in Ganjam following steep rise in local cases.
Simanchal Panda, a 63-year-old journalist of a vernacular daily, died of the infection in Buguda area of the district on Tuesday. His son, who had tested positive, had also died five days ago.
Earlier, Priyadarshi Patnaik, a journalist of a leading vernacular daily of Hinjilkatu in the district and C. H. Rathnam, a journalist of a Telugu daily in Gajapati district, had succumbed to the infection.
Mr. Patnaik advised that the last rites should be performed in a dignified way. He emphasised on making care homes and care centres operational within the fixed timeframe.
Benefits of home isolation
The government had on Monday allowed home isolation for mild or asymptomatic patients in view of the beneficial psychological and physical well-being in familiar environment with care and nourishment.
Besides, industrial houses and voluntary organisations with adequate resources and facilities were allowed to set up their own facilities for mild and asymptomatic patients.
