Sambalpur: Odisha, which successfully fought the first wave of the Coronavirus pandemic and minimised its impact, has been vulnerable to the second wave due to its proximity to Chhattisgarh in its western borders.
The western districts of Odisha bordering the neighboring state witnessed unprecedented rise in the number of infections and the situation somehow became critical in the initial days of the second wave. But Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s special focus on western Odisha and a successful coordinated strategy by the district administrations have helped in containing and minimizing the spread of the disease. Timely actions such as extended lockdowns and shutdowns along with strict police enforcement resulted in breaking the chain and today the numbers are getting decreased bringing much relief for the people.
Just after April 10th this year the whole of western Odisha saw a flood of Covid-19 cases due to the second wave. Within days, the numbers even crossed three times that of the first wave. Daily reported cases in the western districts increased to their maximum in the following few days. As in the first wave, the state government and the district administrations swung into action and this time too the focus was on Three Ts – testing, tracking and treatment.
The situation became more critical when the center refused to listen to the state government’s request for stopping train services between the two states. The state government decided to ban all inter-state bus services between Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Shut down was imposed in the nine districts bordering Chhattisgarh which was later extended to the whole state on the 5th of May. Likewise, the government increased the number of tests in the districts and increased surveillance in the check posts connecting the neighboring state. Odisha made negative RT-PCR test report and double dose vaccination report mandatory for people entering into its borders. This strict enforcements gave results in the next few days and the numbers have decreased drastically.
According to health experts, with strict government intervention and the cooperation by the people in adhering the lockdowns can help us to fight the second wave also. In the last three days many of the western Odisha districts are reporting a downfall in the number of Covid infections. Sundargarh, which saw the highest daily infection number at 2073 on 7th May has reported a little more than 900 cases on 18th May. Likewise, Bargarh has also reported a decline in the daily number of Covid cases. The district reported its highest ever cases on 6th May at 543. Today the numbers have reduced to 339. Sambalpur, which saw 677 infections on 14th May also reported a decline and reported 45 infections on 17th May.
Other districts such as Bolangir, Boudh, Deogarh, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi and Nuapada are today reporting declining trend in Covid infections. Though the Positivity rate in these districts remained more than 30 percent during the first and second weeks of this month, it is also indicating a downward trend for the last five days. Seven of the ten districts have witnessed a positive development in terms of positivity and number of infections. The extension of lockdown and stricter implementation of police enforcement is definitely going to further minimize the infections in the districts.