ODISHA GOVT PREPARES FOR THIRD WAVE

The Odisha government has started its preparation to avoid any kind of eventualities during the much apprehended third wave of Covid-19.

According to state additional chief secretary (ACS) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra, the state government was emphasising on strengthening medical facilities and ramping up tests to deal with the pandemic

“Some experts have opined about the possible third wave of the pandemic. The state government is fully prepared for the situation. On an urgent basis, Oxygen PSA and liquid oxygen plants will be set up in all the district headquarters hospitals and medical colleges in the next two and half months. We will also set up more paediatric beds in the hospitals as children may be more vulnerable to the disease,” Mohapatra informed on Monday.

The state government has also set a target to set up RT-PCR laboratories in each district headquarters hospitals to ramp up testing in next two months.

“The Odisha government has placed an order for 5,000 sachets of

2-DG (2-deoxy-D-glucose) anti-Covid drugs for the treatment of hospitalised Covid-19 patients. The anti-Covid medicine is claimed to help faster recovery of hospitalised patients and reduce Oxygen dependence. Hopefully the medicines will be delivered to the state on June 710,” said Mohapatra. He added that as many as 25 black fungus infected patients had been identified from the state so far. “Three of them have died. However, their death could be attributed to other reasons,” he said.

The ACS informed that the test positivity rate in the state is currently at

14 per cent and hopefully the situation will improve in next 10 days as the peak of the second surge of the pandemic is already over.