Bhubaneswar: Chief secretary Asit Tripathy has said here is no case of community transmission of COVID-19 in Odisha till now.
” Till now the findings have attentively established that the infection was brought from outside the State. To that extent, our fear of community transmission has been allayed”, said the chief secretary in a statement, here on Sunday.
He said that the patients of Suryanagar and Bombikhal area of Bhubaneswar had come from Kolkata and Bhopal respectively. So, till now we have no evidence of community spreading of COVID-19, he added.
He said, ‘The surveillance teams are tracking all possible contacts of the positive cases and carrying out door to door surveillance in the Containment Zones. As a result, both in Surya Nagar and Bomikhal several more positive cases have been found. Further tracking and testing wherever necessary will be undertaken aggressively, he added.
” We have few more cases in various areas of the State. During the lock down period, we need to contain these areas by a well planned and executed containment strategy so that not only the infection is contained within a limited area, but the probability of its spread is greatly reduced. And extensive tracking and testing of the potential cases will be done by the administration. If we follow this strategy, in future much larger areas will be spared of Shutdown.”
“While the shutdown will be over at 8PM today, I would like the people of the state to appreciate that in various areas containment zones will be established as required to be decided by Municipal/District Administration who have power under Disaster Management Act, 2005. I expect the people to cooperate in the interest of public health.
The chief secretary thanked the people of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Bhadrak towns who willingly cooperated to observe the shutdown for 48 hours, which came to and on 8 pm on Sunday. He also complemented the State police for enforcing the shutdown. Similarly, he thanked the municipal authorities, health authorities and the district administration for the meticulous planning and execution with great deal of professionalism.
