Bhubaneswar, Dec 24 (IANS): Amid a surge in Covid-19 cases in some foreign countries, especially China, the Odisha government on Friday advised its people to voluntarily follow Covid appropriate behaviour.

After reviewing the Covid situation in the state, Odisha Health Secretary Shalini Pandit said that people must adhere to Covid appropriate behaviour such as use of mask, hand washing, avoiding spitting in public places and self-isolation in case of showing symptoms.

Countries like China, Japan, Korea, the US, France, Brazil and Germany are showing a spike in the number of Covid cases for the past two weeks. However, the situation in Odisha has been stable with below 15 cases being reported per day since November, Pandit said.

The hospitalisation rate in the state has remained nil with an active caseload of 54 as on date, she said.

She also said that the severity of the Covid variant prevalent in India and Odisha is the same as Omicron, which has been encountered in the past.

However, as a measure of precaution, the state government has asked all district hospitals to remain prepared.

A mock drill will be undertaken across the state on December 27 to ensure operational readiness for management of Covid with specific focus on oxygen plants, ventilators and testing.

The Odisha government has also decided to conduct genome sequencing of the Covid positive cases.

In view of the ensuing FIH hockey World Cup to be held next month, additional manpower will be deployed in Khurda, Cuttack and Sundargarh districts. Further, it has been decided that all urban PHCs and CHCs in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Rourkela will have facilities for rapid antigen test (RAT) and swab collection for RT-PCR.