Odisha mulls relaxing COVID lockdown restrictions in more districts

Amid a dip in Covid cases in Odisha, the state is now focusing on its elderly and children and taking necessary steps to curb the spread of infections, in view of a possible third wave of the pandemic, according to a senior official.

According to Bijay Kumar Mohapatra, Director of Health, Odisha, the state is following advice by experts and has "started training of the health workers in accordance with the suggested nature of the infection."

Mohapatra added that Odisha is under a partial lockdown till July 16 and the state administration was contemplating adding more districts with lower positivity rate.

"The second wave in Odisha has not yet ended however the infection rate in the state has come down significantly, said Mohapatra

The Odisha administration is likely to add more districts that were having relaxed Covid restrictions under "A" category districts as they are experiencing below 5 per cent positive rate, said Mohapatra.

The state has categorised districts in state as A and B based on test positivity rate and active cases.

The State Director of Health said that the state will take a decision regarding unlocking of the state after the review and discussion with experts on the situation.

Mohapatra said the state government has been vaccinating about 3.5 lakh people every day but due to the shortage of vaccine doses, they were unable to achieve their target.

According to the sources, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with Chief Ministers of Odisha, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala on Friday to discuss the Covid-19 situation in the states.

Odisha has reported 2074 new Covid cases and 65 deaths in the past 24 hours taking the total tally in the state to 9,45,749 with 4795 fatalities.

( With inputs from ANI )

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