Odisha govt asks collectors to keep contingency action plan ready to deal with possible Covid surge

Bhubaneswar, April 20 (IANS) The Odisha government has directed all district collectors to keep the contingency action plan ready to deal with any upsurge in the Covid cases.

“The Covid-19 situation in Odisha is not in a worrying stage. However, we all knew that the virus has the tendency of rapid infection. So, we have asked the district officials to maintain surveillance activities to know whether there is any outbreak in any cluster or not,” said Niranjan Mishra, director, public health here on Wednesday.

Now, Omicron BA.2 is the predominant strain and it has a higher transmissibility rate. So, we need to remain cautious, he said.

“To prepare further strategy, we need to know if there is a surge in Covid cases in any cluster or pocket of the state. Further, we need to collect evidence-based data on the outbreak of the virus,” the director said.

Therefore, the government has asked district administrations to keep the contingency action plan ready to deal with any upsurge in the cases, he added.

In a letter to all municipal commissioners, collectors and chief district medical & public health officers, Mishra has asked to maintain Covid surveillance and related activities.

There should be constant review regarding emergence of new cases/clusters, case positivity, population affected, geographical spread of cases and hospital infrastructure preparedness, he said.

The collectors were asked to keep a close vigil on people coming from high burden countries and states.

Stating testing – tracking – treatment- vaccination and Covid appropriate behaviour are the main strategy for management, Mishra asked to strengthen this system.

The officials further instructed to ensure that home isolation protocol is followed scrupulously and due treatment provision is in place.

Moreover, the director instructed the district official to ensure vaccination coverage to all beneficiaries as per guideline issued from time to time.

Odisha on Wednesday logged 8 more Covid-19 cases, which took the active caseload to 110. With the confirmation of death of another person due to Covid-19, the death toll surged to 9,124.

–IANS

bbm/shb/