Bhubaneswar: The state government, Saturday, added two more provisions under the notification issued under the Epidemic Act to improve tracing of suspected coronavirus patients through better data collection at urban as well as rural regions of the state.
Top officials from the state informed the media Saturday that besides airports, massive drive for data collection will be undertaken in rural areas through sarpanchs and Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) to collect data about people in their region who had recently travelled to foreign countries.
“Sarpanchs in rural areas and RWAs in urban areas have been entrusted with the task of informing the government about the details of people who have recently travelled to foreign countries.
Sarpanchs will report to the Block Development Officers (BDO) on the same,” said Hemant Sharma, principal secretary to the state government in a press conference.
The officials said that in most of the coronavirus cases detected in India, the patients have recently travelled to foreign countries. This step to maintain data will aid in tracing such cases. It has been decided that the collected data will be kept by health functionaries for further use.
On the other hand, the state government has, in its second provision, decided to form a Technical Advisory Committee. The panel will comprise of experts who will give technical advice to the state government on the matter. AIIMS Director, virologists, forensic experts and others will be part of the panel.
“The state is also allowed to use the State Disaster Relief Funds to combat the disease in the state. Another important development is that masks and sanitisers have now come under the Essential Commodity Act which means the pricing control mechanism will be in action for this. Anyone who hoards them or sells them at a higher price than the MRP will be prosecuted,” Sharma told reporters.
The data collection procedure will also be followed in all airports in the state. The officials also said that it has decided to ensure more facilities of soap dispensers at Aahaar centres for better hygiene. The government, in their bulletin, informed the media that till Saturday a total of 141 suspected cases were reported but not a single positive case has been found in the state till now.
