Bhubaneswar: The alarming rise in COVID-19 cases across the state notwithstanding, about 400 persons from Odisha participated in the mega annual congregation at Maha Kumbh mela in Haridwar, the Uttarakhand government said.
According to the details provided by the Uttarakhand government, about 400 persons from 150 families visited the religious site to take the holy dip in the Ganga. These participants hailed from Ganjam, Puri, Khurda, Nabarangpur and Cuttack districts.
With several of these pilgrims testing COVID positive upon their return from the Maha Kumbh, the state government has decided to undertake RT-PCR testing of these pilgrims and also made it mandatory for them to undergo 14-day quarantine.
Dr Niranjan Mishra, Director of Public Health, said, “We have made i14-day quarantine mandatory for those who went to pilgrimage at the Maha Kumbh to further spread of the virus in the state. Even if any of them carries a COVID-19 negative report, they will be subjected to quarantine for 14 days.”
The list of people visiting the religious sites in Uttarakhand has been provided to the state government. Currently, the Odisha government is working to ensure that these pilgrims are traced and made to complete their quarantine period under government surveillance.
Meanwhile, the state government received new consignment of COVID vaccines Sunday helping it to overcome the acute shortage of vaccines in the state. Around 2 lakh doses of COVID vaccine were received by the state government.
“We received around 2 lakh doses of Covishield from the Union government. We will send the doses to different districts to bolster the ongoing vaccination drive in the state. The stock is likely to last for 2-3 more days. We will need more stocks soon to continue with the vaccination drive,” Bijay Panigrahi, State Health and Family Welfare Director said.
PNN
