Bhubaneswar: With Ganjam being the worst-affected district in the state, both in terms of caseload and fatalities, Khurda seems to be catching up fast with a huge surge in fresh cases and deaths.
While the district has reported a total of 4703 COVID-19 cases, the death toll stands at 31. In the past week, the district has been reporting beyond 200 infections every day.
Meanwhile, the difference between fresh cases detected in Khurda and Ganjam districts has narrowed drastically in the last one week. The gap has come down to 30-50 cases.
While the government claims that increased testing is the reason for detection of more cases in the areas, the sudden rise in daily cases has panicked denizens.
July 28, Ganjam reported 245 new cases and Khurda reported 194 cases. The difference between fresh cases on the day was merely 51. However, the gap decreased to 30 July 29 with Khurda reporting 220 cases and Ganjam reporting 250.
According to experts, the positivity rate in Ganjam seems to be declining. Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) Director Sanghamitra Pati, in a recent webinar, had admitted that the cases in Ganjam are going down.
On the other hand, former director of AIIMS, Bhubaneswar Ashok Mohapatra said that the whole state cannot be compared under one yardstick when it comes to the COVID case graph and said that different districts could see their peak and flattening of the graphs at different times.
Ganjam continues to be in a worrisome situation as the district has seen a total of 10,992 cases and also reported 107 COVID deaths as per the latest information.
The detection of new strains of the virus in the state has also raised speculations. However, experts tried to allay their fears. “The clades are minor changes in coronavirus. It does not mutate very quickly, and there is no evidence that some strains are deadlier than others. This will not affect treatment and vaccine development,” said Dr Manoj Kumar Sahu, senior gastroenterologist, associated with World Health Organisation (WHO) for Hepatitis Eradication and Corona Prevention.