The staff members of Odisha Assembly have been directed to stay under home quarantine after it was learnt that a 60-year-old man who has tested positive for COVID-19 had visited the the dispensary of the State Assembly recently.
The man is now undergoing treatment at the government-run Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar. He had no foreign travel history had returned from New Delhi in a flight, along with his wife and daughter on March 10. The trio had travelled to Delhi and Haryana. The women and his driver have also been kept in isolation.
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The man had consulted doctors in a private hospital, where he was first treated at the outpatient department and later in the inpatient department of the clinic on March 21. He was then shift to Capital Hospital on March 24. His swab samples were sent for test on March 26 to the Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) in Bhubaneswar and the results came positive on Thursday night.
The Health Department officials are now making efforts to trace the people who could have come in contact with the man after his return to the city.
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The man had visited the dispensary of the State Assembly on March 13 before going for treatment in a private hospital
The staff members have been asked to quarantine themselves because one of the staff members, who had come in contact with the coronavirus patient, had interacted with staff members for several days, Speaker of the State Assembly Surjya Narayan Patro told The Hindu .
The Assembly staff and their family members have been advised to consult doctors if they have symptoms like cold, fever, cough and breathing difficulties, Mr. Patro said. The Speaker has also directed authorities concerned to disinfect the Assembly building.
The State government’s Health Department has directed the management of the private hospital in question to take all possible measures to isolate the doctors, nurses and all those who attended the patient and come in his contact.
“In spite of repeated advisory, some private health care facilities are not complying with the COVID-19 Regulations. Government urges them to act responsibly and follow the regulations while treating patients with flu like symptoms. Non compliance shall be viewed seriously,” the Health Department said.
While the authorities are conducting contact tracing of the patient, fresh guidelines has been issued for all private hospitals on how to deal with such cases.
Assembly session in conference hall
Meanwhile, Mr. Patro has asked all political parties to send 30% of their MLAs to attend a session of the Assembly, which will be convened at the conference hall of the Lok Seva Bhavan on March 30.
The ongoing budget session of the Assembly was adjourned till March 29 on March 13 in view of the coronavirus outbreak threat.
