From a peak of 12,000+ at end of May, the numbers of daily Covid-19 positive cases in Odisha have come down to under 2,000 now. During the same period, the test positivity rate (TPR) in the state has gone down to just 2.14, suggesting the second wave of the pandemic is finally petering off. But if the Odisha government is still unable to breathe easily, there are two main reasons for it. First, even as the number of fresh coronavirus cases are on a steady decline in the rest of the state, Khurda and Cuttack districts continue to report a high number of cases. Second, over 90 per cent of the new cases are being reported to belong to the deadly Delta variant, which remains active for three to four weeks instead of the usual two.