Bhubaneswar: Even as the number of people infected by novel coronavirus in the state climbed to 89 Thursday, the government has decided to scale up the capacity to detect COVID-19 to 3,000 per day by the end of April.
The decision was taken at the video conference of the Empowered Group of Ministers on COVID Management Thursday.
Panchayati Raj and Housing and Urban Rural Development Minister Pratap Jena said the state will conduct 3,000 COVID-19 tests per day by the end this month. New testing labs will be set up at four medical college and hospitals in Balangir, Balasore, Baripada and Koraput and another at Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) in Bhubaneswar. Besides, steps will be taken to enhance the testing capacity of Institute of Life Sciences (ILS) here to 450, Jena said.
The government has stressed on vigil along the border areas. Commenting on West Bengal border, the minister said, “Since we have a long border with West Bengal it’s not feasible to completely seal it. We have requested all panchayat representatives to monitor the entry of people from the neghibouring state.”
He said that a five-member committee headed by a Sarpanch will be constituted in all panchayats to monitor entry of people from other states. Panchayat secretary, a local teacher and the Gram Rozgar Sevak (GRS) will be the other committee members, Jena added.
The portal for registration of names of stranded Odia people wishing to visit their homeland after the lifting of lockdown will start functioning from Friday.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Naba Kishore Das said he will request Centre to conduct COVID-19 test of migrant workers from the state who are currently stranded in other parts of the country due to the lockdown.