The trend of Odisha detecting a majority of COVID-19 positive cases in quarantine centres changed on Tuesday following detection of 31 cases in the community.
Of the 141 cases reported from 18 districts, 110 were found in quarantine centres and 31 in the community. The 141 cases took the State’s total to 2,245, according to the Health department.
The quarantine centres have been set up at the gram panchayat level to keep the returnees in isolation before they could enter their villages.
Of the 156 positive cases detected in the State on Monday, 153 were found in quarantine centres and only three in the community. Same was the case in the previous days too.
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The detection of more cases in the community seems to have put the administration in a spot since it had recently reduced institutional quarantine of the returnees — seven days at quarantine centres and home quarantine for one more week.
There were allegations that those who had completed their week-long institutional quarantine had subsequently violated home quarantine protocol.
With the discharge of 80 persons, the number of recoveries stood at 1,325. The number of active cases stood at 911, while nine persons had died — seven of COVID-19 and two due to other ailments, according to officials.
The health officials said 1,305 persons were kept in hospital isolation and their samples were being tested.
Apparently sensing trouble, the State government had on Monday announced enforcement of complete shutdown in 11 migration-prone districts on all Saturdays and Sundays till June 30.
The government said 2.87 lakh of the 4,26,504 migrants had completed quarantine by Monday.
Since the payment of incentive money of ₹2,000 to the migrants had not been paid upon completion of the institutional quarantine, the government said it has released ₹62 crore from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for the purpose.
The Health department advised people to stay home. “Home is the only place where you can remain safe. Stay alert, take necessary precautions, follow government guidelines and beat COVID-19,” it said in a tweet.
As the migrants are continuing to return, Odisha has increased its testing capacity — 1,59,567 samples tested till Monday, according to officials.
