Odisha Ramps Up COVID-19 Testing, Conducts More Than 1 Lakh Tests In Two Days

With the state reporting highest single-day spike of 2,924 novel coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the Naveen Patnaik-led Odisha government has ramped up the testing capacity.

According to the Hindustan Times, the state government has conducted over 1 lakh COVID-19 tests in two days and continues to focus on improving the testing rate in the to control and curb the transmission of the disease.

The state Health and Family Welfare (HFW) department said with the new confirmed infections, the total number of coronavirus cases in the state has increased to 60,050. More than 5,000 of these cases have been detected in the last 48 hours.

However, the positivity rate has dropped drastically from 9.2% a month earlier to 5.5% on August 16.

"Ganjam district leads the tests with 14,953 tests in two days, which is more than many states in the country. The positivity rate continues to fall in Ganjam to 3.6 per cent. This is a huge improvement in the situation of the district compared to a few weeks back," the state government said.

The fatality rate in Odisha continues to be among the lowest in the country at around 0.58 per cent.

"Odisha is probably the only state where the entire cost of treatment is provided free of cost, while maintaining high standards of treatment through unique partnerships with reputed private hospitals," according to the government.

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