Bhubaneswar: Odisha is well prepared to face the third wave of Covid-19, chief of Directorate of Medical Education and Training (DMET), Dr CBK Mohanty said Friday.
“If the predictions of the experts are anything to go by, then the third wave of the pandemic is likely to hit Maharashtra in next two to three weeks. But there is nothing to panic as we are well prepared to face it,” said Mohanty.
“While people are being advised to follow Covid-19 norms, vaccination has been intensified. Keeping in view that the third wave may infect more people, the government is laying emphasis to strengthen the infrastructure. It has been said that children are going to be infected in this predicted third wave. It is because the middle- aged and elderly ones have already increased their immunity by receiving vaccine doses,” he added.
At the same time, Mohanty tried to allay fears regarding the third wave. He said usually predictions seldom come true.
Regarding the Delta variant of coronavirus, he said, “A total of 63 cases of Delta variant of the virus were reported till June 7 and out of them, six were from India. The variant was first identified in India.”
Notably, Odisha has been reporting daily new cases below 4,000 since June 15. It reported 3,806 new positive cases Friday, taking the tally in the state to 8,70,498. The number of active cases now stands at 43,338.
PNN