OdishaPlus Bureau

The Odisha government has appointed six senior bureaucrats for containment of COVID-19 in three zones here after the state capital emerged as a hotspot of coronavirus cases, a senior official said.
Of the total 60 persons who have tested positive for COVID-19 in Odisha, Bhubaneswar alone has reported 46 cases.

The senior officers will oversee intensive sampling of primary and secondary contacts, contact tracing and household survey by surveillance teams in the containment zones, Chief Secretary AK Tripathy said in a notification. The officers will also monitor the awareness campaign among the community and supply of essential commodities to the people living in containment zones.

While Principal Secretary ST/SC Development Ranjana Chopra and Principal Secretary Energy Bishnupada Sethi, have been assigned the north zone, Principal Secretary Excise SK Lohani and Commissioner-cum-Secretary Higher Education Saswat Mishra have been assigned the southeast zone.

Principal Secretary Finance Ashok K Meena and Commissioner-cum-Secretary Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SSEPD) Bhaskar Jyoti Sharma have been assigned the southwest zone.

Bomikhal area in the city has reported 18 positive cases followed by Surya Nagar-8, Jharpada-6, Satya Nagar-4, Unit-4 area-3, Unit-5 area-2 and one each from Sahid Nagar, BJB Nagar, Badagada village, Kapil Prasad and an apartment near AIIMS, Bhubaneswar.

Another person from West Bengal has been detected with COVID-19 and is admitted to a hospital here. Of the 46 COVID-19 patients, 12 have been discharged from hospitals after their recovery. One person from Jharpada died of the disease on April 6.

The BMC has declared Bomikhal, Jharpada and Surya Nagar areas as containment zones. However, restrictions have been lifted from two other areas after door-to-door surveillance.