Odisha CM appeals for peace, thanks citizens, assures support during lockdown!

With just three persons testing positive to novel coronavirus in the last 15 days from March 15, the Odisha government on Tuesday thanked its citizens for going by lockdown norms and made it clear that there will be no relaxation at least for another fortnight.

The state could restrict the coronavirus positive cases at three because of the sacrifice and patience of people, mostly youths. Thanks all for that, Odisha governments chief COVID-19 spokesperson Subroto Bagchi said.

Bagchi also said, “We cannot be complacent because we just have three coronavirus positive cases. If not careful, it will spin out of control.”

He pointed out that the country reported 180 new positive cases in the last 24 hours. It is good to hear that Odisha has not reported any new case since March 26, but the figure may increase if we do not keep us at our house and follow the lockdown norms, he said.

To drive home his point, Bagchi compared Puri’s population density with New York City, the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak in the US. He said the density of population in Puri and New York is 10,000 people per square km.

High population density helps in spreading the disease. Therefore, people here should maintain maximum restrain, he said.

Things went out of hand in New York but contained in China because the latter had announced a lockdown and its people cooperated with the government, Bagchi said.

Bagchi, on behalf of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, appealed to the people to continue social distancing, practice homestay and abide by the lockdown norms for at least another fortnight to bring a change.

Everything depends on us. If we sacrifice our comfort for another 15 days, things will certainly improve, he said.

Meanwhile, Odisha’s Health and Family Welfare Minister N K Das said that the COVID 19 sample test facility has been started in SCB Medical College & Hospital in Cuttack. Now there are three test centres in Odisha, he said.

The state government is trying to set up two test units also, the minister said.

Speaking about the economically weaker sections of society the state’s chief COVID-19 spokesperson Subroto Bagchi said the destitute and helpless people are being provided with cooked food in gram panchayats and urban areas.

On Tuesday, around 1,75,385 people in 4,338 gram panchyats and 14,383 people in 114 urban local bodies state have been provided cooked food, Bagchi said. He said workers from other states stranded in Odisha have been provided with shelter and food.

Till Tuesday evening, about 19,838 workers have been taken care of in 276 temporary camps. A 24-hour helpline number – 18003456703, has been set up to facilitate these people, he said. This apart, the state has identified 377 quarantine centres with 32,538 beds in 114 urban local bodies in the state, he added.

Stating that the government has come to know that some ambulances are being misused by the drivers, Bagchi said that in 24 hours from Monday morning, the police has registered 209 cases for violations of regulations and guidelines related to COVID-19.

This includes 198 cases for violation of the lockdown, two cases for violation of home quarantine and nine cases for violation of other issues, he said. While giving health update, he said up to Tuesday noon, 473 samples have been tested of which three tested positive for COVID-19. The 55 contacts of the first two positive cases are being tracked while 112 contacts of the third case have been identified.

A total of 57 persons have been kept in isolation in various hospitals, Bagchi said. He also said a total of 11,575 persons have registered themselves through online and through the 104 health helpline.
Out of these 4,304 persons have come from abroad, Bagchi said.

Meanwhile, a report from Balasore said the police arrested a 26-year-old youth for allegedly circulating false information on the social media related to restrictions during the lockdown period. The accused has been arrested under various sections of the IPC, an officer of the Balasore district police said.