Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday gave 10 days to both private and government hospitals to keep beds and intensive care units ready at par with the health infrastructure created during the peak of the second COVID wave in the State. Mr. Patnaik held a high-level meeting on COVID-19 preparedness on a day when the State registered a 60% spike in cases. As many as 680 people tested positive in the past 24 hours as compared to 424 pople in the previous corresponding period. “In order to prevent the spread of the infection, we have to impose restrictions in right proportion. These should not affect the livelihood of people,” advised Mr. Patnaik. He emphasised on the need for putting all systems in place to combat the pandemic as the rate of spread of the infection would be faster this time compared to the previous waves. Meanwhile, as many as 31 students tested positive at the National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneswar, campus while the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bhubaneswar, was sealed following detection of positive cases. Khordha district saw its COVID-19 graph shooting up from 151 to 263 in 24 hours. Odisha’s caseload has increased to 10,56,660 while only 2,888 people are recuperating at hospitals and homes. Most of the infected persons are asymptomatic. One person succumbed to COVID-19 on Tuesday taking the death toll to 8,464.