The Odisha government on Saturday issued an alert upon finding that a postman who had tested positive for COVID-19 had delivered postal service in Bhubaneswar’s densely populated Goutam Nagar and Court Area.
Following an aggressive contact tracing of the man in Puri district, the government came to know that he was posted as postman at the BJB Nagar Sub Post Office.
“The service area of the man was entire Goutam Nagar and parts of Court Area. During the lockdown period, he had delivered a lot of postal service including letters,” said Prem Chandra Choudhary, Commissioner of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, here.
“Anyone who had come in contact with him would have to undergo mandatory home quarantine. They would also have to register themselves with 104 helpline,” said Mr. Choudhary.
He advised people to inform the helpline if they develop any symptoms such as cough and fever and the government would collect the sample from the home.
Earlier, the BMC had identified two hotspots at Surya Nagar and Bomikhal area. In the Bomikhal area, three siblings had tested positive for COVID-19.
“From the contact tracing, we came to know that their father who is living in Bhopal had tested positive,” said Mr. Choudhary.
As far as the Surya Nagar case is concerned, Mr. Choudhary said it was sort of a dead case and the BMC had to disclose the identity of the patient from the public safety point of view.
“We have managed to establish a link. We have found that one member of his family had returned from Kolkata after staying there for four days. The family member is a positive case. All members who had tested positive have been shifted to the COVID-19 hospital.”
The BMC Commissioner said containment measure would continue to remain in force in the two areas as authorities don’t want leave any positive case undetected.
The Health and Family Welfare department said of the 304 samples tested on Saturday, one person was found to be positive.
According to information, the 29-year-old man from the Kalahandi district was asymptomatic and had a travel history to Bahrain.
