COVID-19: Over 2800 persons with travel history untraceable in Odisha!

Bhubaneswar: Amidst several steps and precautions are being taken by the government over the fear of community transmission of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) looming large in Odisha, over 2800 persons, who had recently returned to the state, reportedly have gone missing.

The disturbing fact came to fore after Health & Family Welfare Department communicated to the district collectors expressing its concern over state and foreign returnees, who are yet to be traced.

Reports said that as many as 2,856 persons with history of travelling various states and overseas had reached the home state in a past fortnight. However, the authorities are unable to trace their whereabouts as neither had they informed the local administration nor left any details about them with the Health & Family Welfare Department.

According to surveillance team report, around 2856 persons have not registered themselves on COVID-19 website of state government, out of which 400 are from Bhubaneswar, 450 are of Khordha, 650 from Ganjam and 350 are the residents of Cuttack district.

Fearing possibility of community spread of COVID-19, the Health Secretary Nikunja Bihari Dhal has sought cooperation from the collectors of all the districts.

In this regard, Dhal has written to the collectors and commissioners of municipal corporations directing to initiate search operation to quarantine those persons, who are coming in contact with others without updating their details on COVID-19 website and concealing their travel history.

As COVID-19 has posed a big threat to entire human race, the official directed the district heads to abide three major instructions to prevent spread of the virus in the state. Firstly, the persons returning from other states and abroad will be kept in home-quarantine without delay. Secondly, the person infected with COVID-19 will be quarantined and others will be identified through contact tracing exercise. As per the third guideline, the persons with contact history with the infected persons will be put under home-quarantine even if the COVID-19 symptoms are not found in their body.