Bhubaneswar: Even as the state government Wednesday claimed that it had officially seen registrations of 2,131 persons who had a recent history of foreign trips, data dished out by the government showed that hardly two per cent of the total arrivals were screened.
The state has already seen more than 140 suspected cases of coronavirus but it has sent samples of only 47 (2% of total registered persons) to the Regional Medical Research Centre here for confirmation. RMRC is the lone centre in the state where tests for coronavirus viral load are being carried out.
Despite demand for another such centre at SCB Medical College, Cuttack such facility still eluded the government. Private hospitals in the state are still excluded from the testing facility. With such a large number of persons arriving from abroad including from vulnerable countries like Italy, testing of merely two per cent of arrivals raises questions about the exact status of the corona cases in the state, analysts said.
While the government started thermal screening of passengers at airports, many railway stations and bus stands still allow passengers to mingle into the population. Subrato Bagchi, nodal officer for coronavirus, admitted Wednesday that 100 per cent of screening is a utopian dream. Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy held a meeting with all Collectors, chief district medical officers and block development officers through video conferencing asking them to undertake awareness campaign at panchayat and village levels to control spread of the virus.
Tripathy asked officials to ensure availability of dry food at anganwadis and sensitize people on the government’s decision to provide three months ration and four months oldage pensions in advance.
5T secretary VK Pandian instructed officials to sensitize people about the guidelines and advisories issued by the government from time to time and requested them to follow it all. The government has sanctioned Rs 5 lakh for each panchayat for coronavirus management.
The state government has issued an advisory to all religious institutions to strictly adhere to coronavirus prevention norms. The Odisha State Bar Council has postponed the date of polling for the ensuing election to various affiliated Bar Associations till April 25, 2020. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 were withdrawn/ modified in Bhadrak, Gajapati, Balangir and Jajpur districts. Odisha Public Service Commission has suspended all written and viva voce tests in view of the health advisory issued by the state government. The aforesaid tests will remain suspended till further orders. The government appointed two IAS offices for management of the crisis. Sports and tourism secretary Vishal Kumar Dev was designated as officer on special duty to Chief Secretary. He has been conferred with the powers to issue orders to operationalize the decisions on the COVID-19 crisis.
