Bhubaneswar: Odisha has not yet entered the third state of Stage of Community Transmission of COVID-19, said the Odisha Government today.
This has been revealed at a press briefing made by Subroto Bagchi, Chief Spokesperson of Govt. of Odisha on COVID-19, Sanjay Kumar Singh, Commissioner-cum-Secretary of Information & Public Relations Department and Sujata Karthikeyan, Commissioner-cum-Secretary of Mission Shakti about steps taken by Government of Odisha for prevention of COVID-19.
As per Indian Institute of Public Health Report, the State has not yet entered the 3rd Stage of Community Transmission.
As per the history of new cases they either had a travel history or have come in contact of positive cases.
However, there is local transmission in certain clusters of Bhubaneswar. The State Government is aggressively containing these clusters by declaring them as containment zone. Active surveillance has been strengthened in these zones and all the areas are being sanitized extensively.
Up to 12 noon today, 1888 samples have been tested. Number of Positive Cases stands 39. Two persons have already been cured and discharged from Hospital. Active cases stand 37.
Out of 37 positive cases, 31 from Bhubaneswar, 3 from Bhadrak and one each from Cuttack, Kalahandi and Jajpur. 87 persons are under Hospital Isolation today in different hospitals.
Sharing other updates, he said Odisha got its 3rd Government COVID-19 hospital. Today the 3rd hospital with 500 beds plus 25 bedded ICU facilities at SOA Campus-2, supported by MCL has been dedicated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. While interacting with the Doctors and health care workers of the hospital Chief Minister appreciated their effort to serve people during this global pandemic. Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister, Petroleum & Steel has lauded the State Government for its all out efforts and proactive measures to stem the spread of COVID- 19. At Present 7 Special COVID-19 hospitals with 1547 bed capacity have been made functional in the State. These include Ashwini Hospital in Cuttack, Tata Hospital at Duburi in Jajpur Distriet, Tata Hospital at Joda in Keonjhar District, KIMS (Bhubaneswar) and SUM (Bhubaneswar) in Khurdha District, ID Hospital in Puri and Hi-Tech Medical College (Rourkela) in Sundargarh District.
Chief Minister Sri Naveen Patnaik, presiding over an important review meeting in the presence of Health Minister Naba Kisore Das and Senior Officers of Health Department has emphasized on strengthening of coVID-19 testing facilities in Southern and Western Odisha and increasing the number of tests. Accordingly it has been decided to increase the number of sample testing from 300 to 1000 in next 5 days. Similarly, MKCG (Berhampur) and VIMSAR (Burla) are being equipped for the purpose of testing. It is expected that shortly ICMR approval for the testing facility in above two institutions will be received.
29 shopkeepers have been arrested in Bhadrak Town for defying social distancing norms.