Odisha to focus on containment, surveillance of coronavirus over next week: Chief Secretary

In a bid to contain the rising number of COVID-19 cases in Odisha, for the next 7-10 days the state will be focused on containment and surveillance, Chief Secretary Asit Tripathi said on Sunday.

"This is the evolving situation, no one have the experience to deal with, so we are following the best practices available with different countries. Along with the profesional advise from the experts, our strategy for next 7-10 days will be focused on containment and surveillance, taking the advantage of lock down," Chief Secretary Asit Tripathi said in a press meet.

"After the completion of 48 hours shutdown period in Bhubaneswar, Bhadrak, and Cuttack, ending at 8 pm, districts administration will follow the containment strategy at hotspots, where patients don't have travel history, would ideally be followed for next 7-10 days in these cities along with the surveillance," he added.

 

Commenting on the level of COVID-19 spread in the state, he said: "There is no evidence of community transmission in Bhubaneswar through Surya Nagar and Bomikhal cases as we were apprehending earlier, and this is the direct benifit we got from this investigation and surveillance conducted during this 48 hours shut down period."

Taking about the ongoing shutdown imposed in the state, he said: "The complete shut down for 48 hours, was done as a precautionary measures and for the containment to the dangerous pandemic, in this period, door to door survey, contact tracing, servicing and containment have been done."

Tripathi further said: "People can go out for essential services but in limited numbers. We apeal to the people not to go for desperate buying and to maintain social distancing as per the lock down regulations of central government."

"We have seen that 80 per cent positive cases in the state are asymptomatic, such cases poses a risk to the vulnerable at home, we have given the directions to the district collectors and police for regular service of markets and implement the social distancing strictly," he added.

As on April 4 at 10 pm, the COVID-19 positive cases in Odisha stands at 21, as per the State Health Department.