Covid-19 No threat to Odisha: Health Expert

January 6, 2023January 6, 2023 MTIMES

Bhubaneswar: In rising Covid-19 cases in several countries including China from BF.7 and XXB Omicron virus substrains , there is absolutely covid-19 no threat to Odisha, health expert Dr Jayant Panda said on Friday.

Briefing people in the state in a daily Covid update, Panda said the Omicron sub-group attributed the increase in positive Covid cases to China, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Europe and other countries. While 3 to 5 thousand cases of Covid-19 are reported worldwide, India has reported only 185 cases today.

The cases that are reported in the country are mild symptoms and do not require hospitalization. The Covid situation in other countries is critical because of their wrong policies. In Odisha, “Out of a total of 7,000 tests per day, one or two positive cases are reported. SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack is fully equipped and not a single patient has been admitted in the last two months. When the number of cases is rising in other countries, the situation in India and Odisha is good,” Panda said.

According to Panda, Odisha’s case positivity rate is 0.01 percent daily and 0.012 percent weekly. From this it is evident that the overall management of Covid has been good and there is no need to panic just yet. Due to mass vaccination in India, neutralizing antibodies have increased among the population.

On the second booster, Panda said there is no such provision from the ICMR yet. Currently, the first booster dose is not fully completed in several parts of the country. In other countries, neutralizing antibodies have been found to decline in six months.

“The protection of the population with comorbidities and health professionals is important. Therefore, a second booster dose may be required for them. We insist people take their first booster dose, avoid crowded places and behave according to Covid,” Panda added it.