OdishaPlus Corona Bureau
In what could be termed as a new hotspot, Odisha has made a quantum jump in coronavirus infections. On Friday, as many as 15 new cases were reported taking the total number of COVID-19 cases to 20 in the State. Out of the 15 new cases, 10 belonged to the capital city of Bhubaneswar, while two were reported from Bhadrak and one each from Cuttack, Puri and Jajpur. The 10 cases detected in the capital include seven close contacts of P.K. Dalabehera, who was tested positive as the State’s fifth case. Dalabehera had no travel history. The remaining three patients belonged to one family in Bomikhal area of the city. Cuttack suddenly figured in the coronavirus map. The person from Cuttack city, who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi’s Nizamuddin was tested positive for COVID-19. With the spike in numbers, the Odisha government announced a 48-hour total shutdown, akin to curfew, in the state capital Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, and Bhadrak town from 8 pm on Friday. The ongoing lockdown in force in other parts of the state is continuing.
While in district headquarters essential supplies like groceries, vegetables, fruits, and milk are available to the people, people in the twin cities had to bear the brunt. The 48-hour shutdown order under the Disaster Management Act was issued to prevent community transmission of the highly infectious coronavirus disease. According to Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy, the decision has been taken to protect people’s health. The shutdown has been clamped to enable teams to undertake scientific surveillance in the affected areas.
The Odisha government which until recently had only seen five cases had to spring into action after suspecting local transmissions grew. Why Odisha has become the new hotspot is obvious. Twenty-seven of the Tablighi Jamaat participants, including seven foreign nationals, have returned to Odisha after attending the congregation at Nizamuddin. The government has also launched a massive contact tracing exercise of the people who attended a similar religious congregation at Talcher. The samples from some people in Talcher were collected and sent for the COVID test. The seven foreign nationals, who have come to the state after attending the Nizamuddin event in Delhi, comprise six from Sudan and one man from Djibouti.
While the government has intensified its battle to check community transmission of coronavirus, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on has appealed to all who attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Nizamuddin to come forward and get tested for coronavirus. In a message after Odisha reported 15 COVOD-19 cases on a single day on Friday, Patnaik said there is nothing to be afraid of the disease, which can be checked through awareness.”I request all the persons from Odisha who attended the event in Nizamuddin to immediately contact toll-free number 104, consult doctors and come forward for corona test within 24 hours,” he said. Under the present circumstances, cooperating with the government’s effort to detect the new coronavirus cases is of paramount importance. Any delay on part of the public and lacklustre effort will put everyone at risk.