Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Monday withdrew ‘containment zone’ restrictions from Sundarpada and Jadupur/Begunia areas in the city.
Five places in the capital city — Surya Nagar, Bomikhal, Satya Nagar, Sundarpada and area covering the revenue villages of Jadupur and Begunia were declared as ‘containment zone’ as identification of first coronavirus (COVID-19) cases surfaced in these areas. Contact tracing of COVID-19 positive cases and active surveillance were later ordered in the zones.
“Prior to withdrawal, four rounds of house-to-house survey were carried out at these places. Those with a travel history and COVID-19 symptoms were tested and based on the results, a decision to withdraw the restrictions was taken,” stated BMC commissioner, Prem Chandra Chaudhary.
However, Chaudhary asserted that house-to-house survey will continue in the area for seven more days as a preventive measure to identify any more symptomatic case. Areas that were sealed in Sundarpada included Sundarpada Municipality Hospital Square to Kaluasuni temple, Sundarpada Municipality Hospital Square to Sarakantar New Culvert (near railway track), Kaluasuni temple to Tata Project SeTP and Tata Project SeTP to Sarakantar New Culvert (near railway track).
Similarly, Pala Mandap Chhaka (Begunia) to Jadupur village Pani tanki to Jadupur Village, main road auto stand to Jadupur village and Ambedkar Sikshya Kendra to Jadupur village have been removed from containment zones.
Meanwhile, doubts lingered over removal of restrictions on other ‘containment zones’, especially important areas like Surya Nagar and Bomikhal that had reported the earliest cases of COVID-19.
An area wise distribution of cases under the BMC shows that Bomikhal with 15 cases leads with most in the capital city followed by Surya Nagar with eight; Jharpada five; Satya Nagar four; Unit-IV three, Unit-V two; Sahid Nagar, Palm Heights and Kapila Prasad (one each). Out of these, seven patients have fully recovered while one has died.
“Active survelliance is still going on in these areas. With about 2,125 houses in Surya Nagar; 2,777 in Bomikhal and about 2,500 in Satya Nagar, the process is arduous and time-taking. It is likely to take some more time to remove quarantine curbs in these areas,” a senior official at BMC said.
Similarly, the Cuttack district administration has withdrawn the containment restriction imposed on Nischintakoili Tehsil and Salepur area in the district Monday, an official order said.
Earlier the district administration-imposed containment restriction on ward No. 1 of Jairampur Gram Panchayat in the Tehsil of Nischintakoili and ward numbers 12 and 13 of Mirzapur Gram Panchayat in the Tehsil of Salepur.
