The Odisha government on Thursday decided to launch serology survey to ascertain the immune strength among people against COVID-19, even as the state”s coronavirus tally increased to 5,962 with the detection of 210 more cases, a top official said here.
The state has planned to start the serological survey at Puri from Saturday, Additional Chief Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) P K Mohapatra told PTI.
The study will also be conducted in the districts with high COVID-19 occurrence such as Ganjam (1,088 cases), Gajapati (384), Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation jurisdiction (258) and in parts of Cuttack district.
“The serology survey will start in these places from July 1,” Mohapatra said.
The government”s decision in this regard came as the state’s daily positive case detection average remains as high as 150 during June so far. The figure was only 65 in May.
“The positive case occurrence in June has been almost doubled in comparison to that in the previous month,” a senior health department official said.
The serology test is the scientific study of serum and other body fluid. It aims at identification of antibodies in the serum of human beings, the official said.
Of the 210 new cases detected on Thursday, 174 were reported from quarantine centres while others came from local contact cases. The new cases included six NDRF personnel, two BSF jawans, six health workers and a bank manager.
Meanwhile, the number of infected disaster response personnel from the NDRF, the ODRAF and the Odisha Fire Service, who returned from West Bengal after cyclone Amphan restoration work, has increased to 282.
A cancer patient undergoing treatment at the Acharya Harihar Regional Cancer Centre in Cuttack is also among the fresh cases. He was shifted to a COVID hospital in Bhubaneswar, an official said.
The health department said that as many as 168 patients during the day recovered from the disease taking the total number of persons cured of the infection to 4,191.
The number of COVID-19 active cases stands at 1,647, while 17 people have died of the disease.
A total of 4,188 samples were tested for coronavirus in the state on Wednesday, taking the total number of COVID-19 tests to 2,39,815, the official said.
The state government also asked all the private hospitals to ensure protection of the health workers by adhering to the COVID-19 protocol. The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) served show cause notice to some private hospitals asking them to comply to the COVID protocol or face legal action.
Meanwhile, Odisha Governor Ganesh Lal reviewed the COVID situation in the state and lauded the government’s corona management strategy.
“Odisha has taken timely action by upgrading health infrastructure to meet the challenges of the pandemic. Involvement of gram panchayats also helped contain the spread of the virus,” a Raj Bhavan official said quoting the governor.
