If We Don’t Act Now, It Will Be Very Late: Citizens in Ganjam Demand Complete Shutdown to Break Corona Chain

Citizens Demanding strict action to Contain the Spread of Coronavirus

Berhampur: The Coronavirus pandemic has been slowly spreading its tentacles in the hinterlands of Ganjam district and as of today more than two thousand people have been infected by the virus. While the efforts of the district administration have greatly helped giving a check to the virus from spreading fast, the numbers are still rising. The district has also seen a large number of infections especially among the Coronavirus warriors who are on the frontline and fighting for the common people.

While the steady flow of the migrants to the district has subsided and the number of people staying in the containment zones has reduced, now the focus is slowly shifting towards infections through local transmission.

With the easing of lockdown norms, the movement of people – both intra and inter district, has increased and subsequently resulted in increased number of infections. While there is a need to open up the district, it should not be hastened keeping in view the rising number of coronavirus. The trends show that stricter implementation of lockdown has its positive impact on containing the spread of the virus. And therefore, the Ganjam administration today needs to implement the lockdown guidelines more strictly keeping the overall public good in mind.

People from all walks of life including senior citizens are of the view that the administration should take more and more steps to contain the spread of the virus.

Steps like total shutdown, ban on movement of vehicles, closure of offices and industries for a brief period are required from curbing the virus.

According to K Harinath, a young professional working in a private company, “the administration should implement blanket ban on movement of people in the district. While in some places people are adhering to the social distancing norms, in villages we can see some laxity, which is why the numbers are rising.”

A similar reaction was received from Ashok Tripathy, a social activist from Digapahandi, who says that in our area, the number of infections reported is rising day by day. Although most of the people returned from outside the state completed the quarantine, the number of infections is rising locally. We hope the administration takes some strict action such as shut down to curb the spread of the disease.

According to Jitendra Kumar Nayak, a businessman from Chirikipada Sasana, the government should take immediate action for banning movement of people from one village to another keeping in view the rising number of cases. While implementing total shutdown, the government can allow five hours of relaxation for people to buy essentials.

The opinion of many people today is that time has come to keeping people safe from the virus. Rest all things like business, economy, schools etc., can be avoided for the time being.

For Jagannath Jena, a social activist from Golanthara, only a strict shutdown can help the administration in controlling the movement of people. Ganjam district has borders with neighboring state of Andhra Pradesh. People from both the states cross the borders. Even with guidelines, we can see them crossing the borders. It needs total ban on movement of people in the district.

While the common people have started calling for shutdown in the district for containing the spread of the virus, the administration now needs to go a step ahead and implements at least 15 days of strict shutdown.

During the shutdown period, the administration can speed up the process of screening of people in villages and urban areas, identify hotspots and take all precautionary steps.