Voicing concern over the failure to track over 2,800 overseas returnees in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the Odisha government has directed the districts and civic bodies to focus on surveillance, and intensify contact tracing to place such people under quarantine to curb the spread of COVID-19.
The latest data available with the government indicates that 2,856 people, who have returned from abroad during the last fortnight, could not be contacted by the district surveillance teams so far, an official said on Monday.
"Though the state government has a dedicated portal for registration of people coming from abroad, these people did not do so. They did not use the 104-helpline also," Health & Family Welfare Secretary N B Dhal said.
There is a possibility that they could infect others, he said