Bhubaneswar: The Health department Wednesday claimed that all 30 districts in the state would have at least one RT-PCR lab by August 15 in its attempt to boost the testing facilities for Covid-19.
The announcement was made by Health department Additional Chief Secretary PK Mohapatra. He also said that nine ECMO machines will also be made functional by August 15 at SCB Medical College and Hospital. The official also said that by the end of July, all required equipment for paediatric Covid ward would arrive in the state.
“By July-end or first week of August we may get all required equipment for paediatric treatment for Covid-19. Tender process for the same has been completed. Works have started to get RT-PCR labs in all the districts by August 15. These facilities will be set up at District Headquarters Hospitals (DHHs),” he said.
“We will install nine ECMO machines at SCB Medical College and Hospital. Manpower for the same will be trained in Kolkata and their training will be completed by July end. The machines will be ready by August 15,” he said.
According to the official, there is no dearth of hospital beds in the state and the cases are reducing gradually. “Eighty per cent of active cases are now in home isolation. The state’s positivity rate Wednesday stood at 3.49 per cent,” he said.
He also added that the positivity rate in May was around 15.47 per cent. “This is going down slowly. Around 10 districts have reported TPR below 1 per cent and there are 24 districts which show below 5 per cent and six districts are reporting above 5% TPR. The condition is likely to improve in the next 14 days,” he said.
“ASHA and Anganwadi workers are making door-to-door visit. They had helped in identification of 1,15,162 Covid cases including around 75,000 comorbid cases,” he said.
Past experiences and scientific studies hint that in case there is a third wave of the pandemic, it could come around October but the state government is equipped with required infrastructure to face it, he said.