Amid growing concerns of COVID-19 spreading deep in the rural pockets of Odisha’s Nuapada district and impacting the already burdened rural healthcare system, at least 15 caste-based organisations have sought two weeks of complete shutdown in the district.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented and threatening to wipe out this generation. People are reaching out, urging us to take some steps in coordination with the district administration to stop the march of the virus,” said Prashanna Kumar Padhi, president of Brahman Samaj, Nuapada, and a key member of District All Caste Coordination Committee.
Mr. Padhi said, “In a small district like Nuapada whose population is little more than 6 lakh, daily detection of 500 COVID-19 positive cases surely rings alarm bells. We need to protect our people first and then comes livelihood.”
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According to him, in Brahmanpada under Sinapalli block of the district, as many as 11 people had already died in the past two months, which proved the prevalence of COVID-19 pandemic. Almost all villages of Nuapada had traces of infection and people were having flu-like symptoms.
Similarly, Hareram Kathar, president of District Yadav Samaj, said on an average five to six deaths were occurring at the district COVID-19 hospital every day.
“What we have come across is that most of COVID-19 patients have been asked to stay in home isolation. The temporary medical centres set up last year at panchayat level have not yet been fully established. As a result of this, patients opting for home isolation were actually causing further spread. It is gradually assuming the proportion of community transmission,” said Mr. Kathar.
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The organisations said the administration had resorted to imposing shutdown at selected places, whereas it showed reluctance for a blanket shutdown in the district.
“We want the Nuapada district administration to mobilise all necessary drugs required to treat infected people and at the same time take steps to break the chain,” said Mr. Padhi.
According to caste-based groups, the district does not have CT-SCAN facility, which was of late found effective in detecting infection that cannot be spotted in antigen and RT-PCR tests. They demanded further strengthening of the healthcare system in view of the pandemic.
Nuapada, which shares its borders with Chhattisgarh, has been reporting a high number of positive cases for the past two weeks. The test positivity rate also hovers above 30%. A lone 160-bedded COVID-19 hospital is handling all positive cases. The caste-based organisations said shutdown was the only answer to break the chain.