Odisha Fights Corona: Overcoming Fear Key To Contain Spread, Says Subroto Bagchi

Bhubaneswar: Despite lot of awareness, there seems to be some kind of panic and fear among people regarding Coronavirus. This was evident after Odisha government spokesperson on Coronavirus, Subroto Bagchi on Thursday urged people to overcome their fear and voluntarily report if they develop any COVID-19 symptoms.

Citing the case of a COVID-19 positive patient, Bagchi informed that “After nearly 49 times, the concerned person picked up the call from our tracking and surveillance team.”

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Bagchi further stated it is crucial that people, who have Coronavirus symptoms, should overcome paranoia and inform government as their one bold step can help check the spread of the virus. Everybody needs to be cautious and there is no need to panic if the guidelines of the State government are followed.

It is pertinent to mention here that the number of coronavirus confirmed cases reached five after a 60-year-old man from Bhubaneswar tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday.

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. 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 third COVID-19 positive case came to the fore on March 26 while the fourth positive case was reported on March 31 after a 29-year-old youth from Bhadrak district with travel history to Dubai tested positive.

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Bagchi said adding that a total of 15, 895 persons have registered themselves online and through 104 COVID helpline for self quarantine. Out of those persons, 4 366 persons are foreign returnees, he stated.

Odisha government has come up with a two special COVID hospitals with a capacity of 625 beds in the twin cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. While the first hospital with 500-bed capacity has been set up at Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) in Bhubaneswar, the second facility is at Ashwini Hospital in Cuttack with a capacity of 125 beds. Both the hospitals have been funded by the Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC). Another COVID-19 facility at SUM hospital will be made operational soon, informed sources.