Eight more COVID-19 cases, including two women, were reported from Odisha’s Jajpur district taking the State’s total of 157 on Saturday. While five of them had returned from West Bengal, the two women were contacts of the returnees.
Contact tracing and containment measures were ramped up in the villages from where new cases were detected, the State Health & Family Welfare Department said.
‘Observe rule strictly’
Meanwhile, State Health Secretary Nikunja Bihari Dhal urged the people returning from outside the State to observe social distancing and quarantine rules strictly. It was due to violation of quarantine rules that the Katikata gram panchayat in Jajpur district has emerged as a hotspot with 21 cases so far, he said.
Stating that five persons had returned to Katikata from West Bengal recently, Mr. Dhal said remaining persons had contracted the disease from the returnees who violated quarantine and social distancing rules. A total of 623 samples have been collected and possibility of more cases cannot be ruled out, he said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik held videoconference with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy and Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa for facilitating return of Odia people stranded in their State
The first train with 1,150 Odia people, which left Kerala on Friday night, was scheduled to arrive in Odisha on Sunday morning. Another train was scheduled to leave Gujarat for Odisha Saturday night, officials said.
Fifteen of the 30 districts of Odisha have reported COVID-19 cases so far with five districts reporting maximum number of cases. Thse are Jajpur with 48 cases, Bhubaneswar with 47 cases, Balasore 20, Bhadrak 19 and Sundargarh 10.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy said the government will soon issue orders with graded restrictions for different zones by considering local conditions.
