Naveen Patnaik urges people not to panic over Covid-19 resurgence

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Tuesday said the state can cope with the present coronavirus situation without hampering the livelihood of people.

Asking people not to panic over COVID-19 resurgence, Patnaik said, the situation was completely under control as cases requiring hospital admissions this time was very low.

The number of fresh infections continues to remain at a particular level in our state while active coronavirus cases have started declining in various parts of the country, the chief minister said while reviewing the coronavirus situation.

Highlighting that the state government has taken several measures to support livelihoods during the pandemic, Patnaik said, With the help of the public, we can deal with the situation without affecting the economic condition of people.

Emphasising the need for vaccination, Patnaik said journalists should get the booster dose as they too have been identified as frontline workers.

Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, RK Sharma, said the country is witnessing the peak of the ongoing wave of the pandemic.

The number of new COVID-19 patients in the state is between 10,000 and 11,000 per day, but the number of patients being hospitalised is very low.

Of the 11,291 beds available for coronavirus patients in the state, only 11 per cent of them are occupied at present, Sharma said.

The state has adequate stock of medicines, oxygen, and other essentials he said.

On the progress of vaccination in the state, he said that 82.8 per cent of people had taken the first dose and 70.7 per cent had been administered the second dose.

Altogether 45.8 per cent of children in the age group of 15 to 18 years have been vaccinated while 18 per cent of eligible people have received the booster dose.

Meanwhile, Odisha Tuesday reported 11,086 new COVID-19 cases taking the tally to 11,55,487. So far, 10,66,032 patients have recovered while the active cases surged to 80,914.