India News | Stay Extra Vigilant as Coming Weeks Crucial Due to Fast Spread of Coronavirus: Patnaik
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday asked people to remain extra vigilant in the next few weeks in view of the fast spread of the coronavirus pandemic across the country and in the state.
Bhubaneswar, Jan 11 (PTI) Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday asked people to remain extra vigilant in the next few weeks in view of the fast spread of the coronavirus pandemic across the country and in the state.
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Patnaik said this in a statement after reviewing the prevailing coronavirus situation in the state.
“The next few weeks are very crucial for the state and people should therefore be extra careful and vigilant,” he said.
Patnaik asked officials to ensure that people who have not been vaccinated at all or have not taken their second dose should be jabbed as soon as possible.
Highlighting that the vaccination programme in the state has been satisfactory, the chief minister said as many as 92 per cent of people have already taken the first dose of the vaccine while the rate of second dose inoculation is 68 per cent.
About 30.7 per cent of teenagers in the age group of 15 -18 years have so far been vaccinated.
Patnaik asked the director-general of police to enforce COVID-19 norms strictly and urged people to adhere to the guidelines.
"Even though the hospitalisation rate is still very low in the third wave, we have to be fully prepared for the future.
“Since most of the infected people in the current wave are in home isolation, we need to strengthen the monitoring system and ensure that the Rapid Response Team and field staff keep in touch with them regularly,” the chief minister said.
Of the over 20,000 active cases in the state, more than 19,000 patients are in home isolation thus lessening the burden on hospital beds, said director of health service Bijay Mohapatra.
Meanwhile, Odisha recorded 7,071 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, a sharp rise of 46 per cent over the previous day's figure of 4,829 cases and the biggest one-day spike in over seven months, a bulletin issued by the health department said.
Meanwhile, the state government has decided to allow only police contingent to participate in Republic Day celebrations this year to discourage large gatherings amid the COVID surge.
“In view of the initial signs of a surge in cases of COVID-19, as well as increased detection of the variant of concern, ‘Omicron', the Government of Odisha has discouraged large gatherings and prescribed other preventive measures to contain the spread of the disease,” an official notification said.
There will be no participation of students or NCC cadets and only a limited number of guests, may be invited to the celebration, using e-invites, it said.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)