Bhubaneswar: Self-reporting and self-monitoring are the key measures to tackle the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which has disrupted the lives and livelihoods of many in the Capital City of Odisha, said Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhary.
So far, the people of Bhubaneswar have extended their support and cooperation in the fight against COVID-19 and they should continue their support in the days ahead to help the city emerge out of the crisis. “COVID-19 management is a collaborative effort with active support of individuals and communities. We have got good amount of support from people in the city in whatever strategy we make but now, time has come for focusing more on self-reporting and self-monitoring to contain the spread of the virus in our localities,” the Commissioner urged people of Bhubaneswar during his press briefing this afternoon at Gita Govinda Bhawan.
This apart, the BMC Commissioner once again laid emphasis on taking care of senior citizens and persons with comorbidities as these are the most vulnerable people during the pandemic. “Our priority is to save the lives of our senior citizens and persons with comorbidities. We must ensure that there should be a care-giver, or an attendant is available at every household to take care of the senior citizens,” Chaudhary added.
Sharing another important information, the Commissioner said out of the total positive cases in Bhubaneswar, 80 per cent cases are asymptomatic. Therefore, people having zero criticality should be encouraged to go for home isolation instead of accommodating them at COVID hospitals. “Now, we should promote and encourage home isolation more for COVID-19 patients who have been clinically assigned as a very mild case or pre-symptomatic/asymptomatic,” Choudhary explained.
The BMC, in the last ten days, has allowed 167 COVID-19 patients to stay in home isolation after following the due procedures.
Seeking more support and participation from the public, the Commissioner further stressed on adhering to COVID-19 guidelines such as wearing masks, social distancing and hand hydergine to contain the spread of coronavirus.
As many as 114 frontline workers, including doctors, nurses, ASHA workers, anganwadi workers and sanitary staff have tested positive for Covid-19 in the Capital City. 11 COVID Warriors tested positive in last 10 days.
Till date, BMC recorded total 1,828 covid positive cases, out of which 952 are active, 863 cured and 11 persons were dead. Out of the total active cases, 64 persons are above 60 years old.
418 positive cases came from slum while 1,410 persons tested positive from non-slum areas in Bhubaneswar so far. As more and more asymptomatic persons testing corona positive, the Capital City has 764 symptomatic while 1,064 asymptomatic cases.
Amid a surge of COVID positive cases in Bhubaneswar for the last few days, what could be certainly good news is that city has a very few people who need intensive care. Till date, only eleven people are receiving treatment in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) at different hospitals while four people are on ventilator support.
As per the data in the last ten days (July 15 to July 25), the BMC recorded total 969 positive cases, of which 873 are active and 95 persons were cured. As many as 201 cases are recorded from slum and 657 cases came from non-slum areas during the period.
Meanwhile, the BMC has ramped up its sample collection mainly from slum areas, communities, enclaves and organisations besides stressing on proactive surveillance and contact tracing.
The BMC, however, faces some challenges such as large floating population, management of industries, management of critical health cases of hotspot districts as many positive cases have been detected from these areas and they are coming to the State Capital. Secondly, the people from Bhubaneswar with travel history to the hotspot districts have also contributed to the rise in COVID-19 positive cases.
Slum Strategy:
The largest Civic body of the State has also formulated a special slum strategy for prevention and enforcement activities across the city slums through disinfection of public places and affected areas.
While enforcement of mask, social distancing in crowded areas have become the major focus area, sensitizing private hospitals and enforcement, safety of government offices and regulations and strong reprimand for violators for the overall management of COVID-19 situation have become other key areas.
“The BMC has formed a slum committee in each slum of the city. Active contact tracing is being conducted aggressively and successfully with full support of committee members,” the Commissioner informed.
At present, the BMC has declared four slums – Sitapur and Trinath Basti, Ganapati Basti in Nayapalli and Harinagar Basti – as containment zones.
More facilities in the offing:
The BMC has decided to setup 60-bedded Covid Care Centre (CCC) in Dumduma UCHC which will help us accommodating more COVID patients who need medical attention. Besides, the city-based Aditya Ashwini Hospital has agreed to setup 150 bed inclusive of 31 ICU unit DCH.
Similarly, corporate houses and Industrial sector have been approached to help setup 250 bedded CCCs and various NGOs have expressed willingness to setup 100 bedded CCHs.
Besides, three MLAs have extended help to BMC by setting up 50 bedded CCH each in respective MLA constituencies. And, three RWAs (Vipul Garden Ghatikia, BMC Bhavani Enclave and Utkal Royal Residency) have expressed interest in setting up @ 25 bedded CCH each, 75 in total.)
Religious institutions like Gurudwara, Christian association, Muslim Associations, etc have come forward and agreed to set up 200 bedded CCH in the city.
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