The Odisha government on Sunday lifted the 48-hour complete shutdown from three cities after asserting that no community transmission of COVID-19 had occurred.
State-wise tracker for coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates
The three cities where shutdown was to end at 8 p.m. on Sunday were Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Bhadrak.
“We became puzzled following detection of COVID-19 positive cases from the Surya Nagar and Bomikhal areas of Bhubaneswar. Now, we have found that these infections had roots in outside States. The apprehension about community transmission has now disappeared to a large extent,” said Asit Tripathy, State Chief Secretary, here.
There was no evidence based on which it could be concluded that community transmission had already taken place, said Mr. Tripathy.
‘Enforce containment’
“District administrations have been asked to enforce containment strategy at the hotspots where patients have no travel history and are asymptomatic, for the rest of the lockdown period,” he pointed out.
Mr. Tripathy appealed to people to maintain discipline and not to rush to the market desperately after the shutdown period.
Coronavirus | State Helpline numbers for COVID-19
Meanwhile, two more COVID positive cases have been detected in Bhubaneswar, taking the total cases in the State to 23. Two patients have already been discharged after recovering from the disease.
One 70-year-old man of the Kapila Prasad area, who had returned from Australia on March 22, has tested positive for coronavirus. He had been in the home quarantine since then.
Similarly, one 29-year-old youth from Bomikhal was found positive during active surveillance in the area. Three siblings in Bomikhal had earlier tested positive. They were suspected to have contracted coronavirus from their father, who lives in Bhopal and also tested positive.
Village shutdown
The Ganjam district administration declared the Matiasahi village as a COVID-19 hotspot. About 130 migrants from the village had exposure in affected areas of Bhubaneswar. The village will go into complete shutdown from Sunday.
The administration also appealed to people in Goutam Nagar and Court Area in Bhubaneswar to register them with the 104 Helpline if they had handled postal packets delivered by a postman who had tested positive for COVID-19.
COVID-19 | Interactive map of confirmed coronavirus cases in India
The man, who is said to have links to the Tablighi Jamaat religious gathering in New Delhi, hails from the Puri district. He was posted as a postman at the BJB Nagar Sub Post Office of Bhubaneswar.
