Ramakanta Biswas

Bhubaneswar: The Coronavirus positive cases in Odisha shot up to three with one more sample testing positive for COVIDー19 on Thursday.

All the three Coronavirus positive cases reported in the State so far are from Bhubaneswar, the department of State Health & Family Welfare said.

The latest COVIDー19 positive case in the State is a 60-year-old male. informed the department while urging all to follow the lockdown advisory. The person reached Bhubaneshwar on March 10 at 7 PM from Delhi by an Indigo flight. He reportedly got admitted to Kar Clinic on March 23 and was in ICU for a day.

After the positive case emerged, the State government has initiated contact tracing of those who might have been infected.

Based on the contact history of the third positive case, the State Health Department has urged people not to visit Kar Clinic in Bhubaneswar for outpatient and inpatient care.

The department further warned of action against such private facilities violating the guidelines. "In spite of repeated advisory, some private health care facilities are not complying with the COVID-19 Regulations. Government urges them to act responsibly and follow the Regulations while treating patients with flu-like symptoms. Noncompliance shall be viewed seriously," it said in a tweet.

The health department, later requested the management of Kar Clinic to take all possible measures to isolate the doctors, nurses and all who had attended the patient and had come in contact with him.

The first COVID-19 confirmed case in Odisha was reported on March 16 after a 33-year-old youth from Bhubaneswar who had a travel history to Italy tested positive for the virus. The youth had returned from Italy on March 12 and subsequently arrived in Odisha on a train from Delhi. He is now undergoing treatment at Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar.

Three days later on March 19, Odisha reported its second case of COVID-19 after a youth who had returned from the UK tested positive during a check-up at the isolation ward of AIIMS Bhubaneswar. The 20-year-old patient happens to be the son of a medical superintendent of the hospital. He is currently undergoing treatment at the hospital and is stated to be stable.

According to Odisha government's COVID-19 spokesperson Subroto Bagchi, 4259 persons have so far registered on self-declaration COVID-19 portal of the state government. Today, the Odisha government directed the gram panchayats and zilla parishads to identify and ensure 14-day home quarantine for 84,000 migrant workers who returned to the State recently.

As far as the numbers in India are concerned, a total of 695 confirmed coronavirus cases have been reported so far. The death toll due to the virus also shot up to 16, according to the data of the Union Health and family welfare ministry.

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