Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra today addressed the people of the state and appealed them to cooperate in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. He said, Odisha has successfully fought the first two waves of Covid-19 pandemic and the third wave has started in the country including Odisha. The state government has taken every step fight the pandemic and treatment of the people affected by it. Due to the Omicron variant of the virus, Covid is spreading very fast in the country. During the third wave, with the orders of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the government has given priority to the livelihoods of the people and the guidelines have been issued accordingly without affecting the livelihoods. Keeping this in mind , no shutdowns and lockdowns are imposed. With your cooperation we are fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.
With the orders of the Chief Minister, the dedicated Covid hospitals have been reopened within seven days. Doctors and Paramedic staff have been deployed in those hospitals and with sufficient stock of Oxygen, medicines and other requirements have been kept ready. Health infrastructure has been readied in a short notice. For the last few days, more than ten thousand cases are being reported in the state. Currently, only 2 percent of the infected people are requiring hospitalizations. The experience of the last fifteen days shows that the requirement of hospital beds, oxygen and medicines is very low. Only ten percent hospitals beds are occupied in the state.
He requested the people of Odisha not to fear. “As we fought the previous waves and abided by the guidelines, we will continue to do that now. We have to strictly adhere to the guidelines like maintaining social distancing, wearing masks and avoiding unnecessary crowd” he said. All should do their best to keep their family members away from the virus. The next few days are very crucial for the state. We have to strictly abide by the guidelines as appealed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. I hope you will all help the state in this time of need.