Bhubaneswar: The covid +ve cases in Odisha which were maintaining 6000 plus for last six days today unexpectedly jumped and crossed 8000 marks indicating that the covid crisis to continue for a longer time in the state.
Health and Family Welfare department sources said an all-time record of 8386 positive cases including 4781 from the quarantine centres and 3605 local contact cases were reported from 30 districts in the past 24 hours taking the covid tally to 4,28,515.
The state also witnessed ten covid deaths for the second consecutive day pushing the covid toll in the state to 2017.
At the same time the number of active covid cases soared to 55,245 while with the recovery of 4089 people on Tuesday, the total recoveries in the state surged to 3,71,200.
Official sources said of the ten deaths reported in the state in the last 24 hours, three each was reported from Puri and Rayagada district while one each succumbed to the virus in Boudh, Ganjam, Khordha and Sundargarh district.
As many as 19 of the 30 districts have reported more than 100 new cases in the past 24 hours with Khordha district registering the highest number of 1840 cases followed by Sundargarh (933), Cuttack (496), Jharsuguda ( 433), Nabarangpur ( 388) Bolangir (358) and Angul ( 347).
As oxygen shortage has crippled the covid treatment across the state, the Odisha government on Tuesday announced the standard operating procedure for rational use of medical oxygen in treating the covid patients.
The additional chief secretary of health P K Mohapatra said “we may face acute shortage if we did not manage the use of oxygen rationally and judiciously,”.
Mr Mohapatra has asked all District collectors, Municipal commissioners, Medical college hospitals, Chief District Medical Officers to ensure that the SOP is followed with all seriousness in both the government and private Covid hospitals.
Meanwhile, with the rapid rise of covid patients in the state, the government has decided to introduce an online real-time bed management system to get an accurate picture of the availability of beds for covid patients in different hospitals in the state.
Official sources said steps are being taken to increase the number of beds, ICUs in the medical college hospitals and other covid hospitals.
All the new private hospitals are being converted into covid hospitals.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday reviewed the covid situation in the state and directed the District Collectors, and SPs to assess the situation at the ground zero level and chalk out flawless schemes to combat the virus.
“We are in the midst of a severe crisis in the country. Many States and metro cities are witnessing a huge strain on the healthcare system. We need to be extremely cautious and alert in ensuring all measures to manage the situation, Mr Patnaik said.
The Chief Minister said the rising cases of covid in some districts in the state is a major cause of concern. The virus he said is spreading in the form of double./triple mutant strains.
The second wave of covid, he said, has made us realize that the covid crisis would continue to stay for a longer time and we need to be prepared for it.
Mr Patnaik appealed to the people of the state to behave responsibly and follow all the covid protocols strictly.