No Covid fear for Odisha now: Jayant Panda

Bhubaneswar: Another Odisha health specialist has ruled out the prospect of a fourth wave of COVID in the state, despite the virus's expansion in other countries.

In a video released on Friday, health expert Jayant Panda stated that some countries, including China, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, the United States, Europe, Australia, and Hong Kong, are currently in the fourth phase of the COVID pandemic due to the presence of two sub-strains of the Omicron virus, BF.7 and XBB 1.5.

He held the government in these countries liable for the pandemic's spread due to poor pandemic management. Citing China as an example, he stated that in order to ensure zero COVID, the authorities imposed lockdown for three years and then relaxed it due to public demand. They also did not conduct a mass immunization campaign like India.

As a result, people who had been restricted to their homes for years were suddenly exposed to new variations and sub-variants of the virus and became ill. Another concerning aspect of these countries is that practically majority of those affected are elderly or have comorbidities.

"In comparison, the people of India have been immunized as a result of a large vaccination push. Our government prioritized senior persons, pregnant women, and people with comorbidities. "Our people have built a robust immune system to combat COVID variations," Panda explained.

In support of his assertion, he stated that whereas 3 to 5 lakh positive cases have been reported in the afflicted nations, India had only registered 185 instances as of Friday. Furthermore, all of them have minor illnesses and are in good health. They have not been hospitalized.

"At the same time, we have not slowed down in conducting COVID experiments. Even today, over 2 lakh tests are performed in the country on a daily basis. "One or two positive instances are reported out of 5,000-6,000 tests performed in Odisha every day," he said.

He went on to say that in Odisha, the positive rate is 0.01 percent daily and 0.012 percent weekly. Furthermore, SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, the state's premier hospital with full COVID treatment capabilities, has not admitted a single patient in the recent two months.

Considering all of these considerations, Panda believes there is no cause to be concerned about the advent of the fourth phase of the COVID pandemic in Odisha.

At the same time, he warned people not to relax their guard and to follow COVID instructions to prevent the virus from spreading. He urged patients who had not had the booster dose to get vaccinated, including through nasal vaccination.

He advised that people with comorbidities should take extra precautions, and everyone should continue to wear face masks in crowded and public locations.

It should be mentioned that Niranjan Mishra, director of Public Health, stated on January 2 that the state administration was prepared to deal with the issue following the discovery of the first case of COVID sub-variant XBB.1.5. In the event of an outbreak, all medical facilities have been updated, and the sub-variant will have no effect on the state, he stressed.