Worried over the fact that the State’s fourth COVID-19 patient had not shown any symptoms earlier, the Odisha government urged people who have travel history not to be complacent if they did display any symptoms.
“The persons with travel history but no symptoms should not be complacent. They must follow home quarantine for two weeks and then self-monitor their health condition for another two weeks,” said the State government’s Department of Health & Family Welfare.
As efforts were on to trace the contacts of the fourth patient and the persons who had returned after attending the religious conference at Nizamuddin in Delhi, the State government cancelled all programmes to celebrate Odisha Divas, the State’s foundation day on Wednesday.
“Surveillance, testing, isolation and treatment are essentially technical matters. Our efforts are to detect as many positive cases as possible and contain the disease,” said the department while urging people to follow lockdown orders and contribute to containment efforts of the government.
The 29-year-old man from Bhadrak district, who was the fourth COVID-19 patient with travel history to Dubai, had not shown any symptoms of the disease till he was tested positive for coronavirus on Tuesday night.
While the patient has been shifted from Bhadrak to the SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack, the State Health Secretary Nikunja B. Dhal has asked the Collector of Bhadrak to isolate the close contacts and get them tested and trace all contacts as soon as possible.
The Managing Director of National Health Mission Odisha is monitoring the follow-up action, according to the department.
The three persons who tested positive for coronavirus earlier are undergoing treatment at two government hospitals in Bhubaneswar.
A total of 610 samples were tested in three testing facilities in the State and four were positive for COVID-19 till Tuesday.
Of the total of 11,575 persons who had registered with the government on their return to the State so far, as many as 4,304 had returned from other countries.
On the other hand, with demand for masks increasing, the women self-help groups in the State have risen to occasion to supply affordable masks to government and private agencies and local people. In Cuttack district, 55 SHGs have already supplied 2.5 lakh masks at a nominal rate.
Odisha Divas
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wished the people on the occasion of Odisha Divas and paid tributes to the leaders who fought for the creation of Odisha as separate State.
In a video message, Mr. Patnaik urged the people to fight COVID-19 pandemic and expressed confidence that they will emerge victorious in fighting the menace.
Published - April 01, 2020 11:03 am IST
