COVID-19 cases to peak in Bhubaneswar in September

Bhubaneswar: As the spike in COVID-19 cases continues unabated in Bhubaneswar, the city is expected to hit a peak of around 5000 active cases in the month of September.

“The State capital will reach its peak in COVID-19 cases in September. We have projected to witness 5000 active cases by September 15,” said Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhary today.

The city was reporting 300 cases everyday when Khordha district topped the list with highest single-day spike surpassing Ganjam district. Now, the cases are reaching over 500.

“In last couple of days, around 300 cases were being reported from Bhubaneswar everyday. But, the city registered over 1000 new cases in the past two days. We had projected around 3,500 active cases by August 31 that we had almost reached. Now, we assume that we will see around 5000 active cases by September 15,” Chaudhary told reporters.

In view of rise in COVID-19 cases, the BMC is focusing on home isolation for the new infectees.

However, he denied the report over shortage of beds in COVID hospitals in Bhubaneswar.

“We are having sufficient number of beds for COVID-19 patients. As the cases are rising, this is a kind of critical month for Bhubaneswar. Accordingly, we have increased our testing,” he said.

The BMC is conducting around 2500-3000 tests per days. The civic body has expedited the testing at 23 locations on demand and found 10 wards under its jurisdiction severely affected.

“We have identified 10 wards where the number of positive cases is higher than other localities. The most of cases are detected in the contact tracing when someone gets infected in a family. In view of this, we have deployed more number of teams in these wards,” the BMC Commissioner said.

When asked about the reason of spike in COVID-19 cases in Bhubaneswar, he said, “Bhubaneswar is a critical healthcare centre. People from across the State visit the city for COVID-19 test and treatment. Besides, the flight and train services are operational during the crisis and the economic activities also opened. These are the reasons that the cases are on rise in Bhubaneswar. But, we are trying to balance between our economy and fight against COVID-19.”

He said that the State capital is well protected from the deadly virus if the sero survey report will be taken into account.

“This is a worldwide trend where the infection breaks out, the number will rise and place will be at peak and the cases will decline gradually. According to the latest serological survey findings by the ICMR-run Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), 1.22 percent have developed antibodies. Even after being the capital city, the sero survey shows that we have 1.22% antibody prevalence in the month of July,” he told media.