Naveen Patnaik stresses location-specific strategy to contain spread of COVID-19

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday directed officials to adopt a location-specific strategy to curb the spread of the coronavirus outbreak in Khurda, Cuttack, Sundargarh and Rayagada, as these districts are emerging as COVID-19 hotspots in the state.

About 32 per cent of 20,388 active cases in the state are in these four districts, an official said.

During a review meeting, the chief minister also asked officials to increase the number of tests for the infection across the state.

He congratulated the district collectors and health officials for their services to stem the spread of the coronavirus outbreak and conducting over 50,000 tests a day.

The health department has already tested over one million samples for COVID-19.

As the number of asymptomatic patients is rising in the state, Patnaik asked officials to encourage treatment at home with the help of the elected representatives of panchayats and members of COVID Care Committees.

Though the fatality rate in the state remains at around 0.60 per cent, Patnaik said there is no reason to be complacent and urged district administrations to bring it down further.

The chief minister also said the plasma therapy application should be improved as it has proved to be effective for the critical patients.

Chief Secretary A K Tripathy said a multi-disciplinary technical team, comprising professors of seven state-run medical colleges, has been formed by the Medical Education and Training Directorate with the objective to bring down the fatality rate.

Odisha has so far reported 64,533 COVID-19 cases, while 45,315 patients have recovered and 362 died due to the disease.