Fresh Covid advisory in Odisha by evening: Top health official

The Odisha government is going to issue a fresh Covid advisory by this evening in view of rising cases of infections across the globe, a top health official said.

Health and family welfare director Bijay Mohapatra informed about the new advisory after the conclusion of a crucial meeting which was attended by the health secretary and other stakeholders.

After the meeting, Mohapatra said, “We discussed how the Central advisory can be implemented in Odisha as per our requirement. The meeting was attended by clinical experts including the members of RMRC.”

“Everybody made suggestions as to how can the central advisory be implemented in Odisha. But as far as the current situation is concerned, the surveillance and testing is going on as before. We will come up with our own set of rules for Odisha after deliberating on the current Covid situation and Central government guidelines,” he added.

Speaking about masking up, Mohapatra said. “The central government has not made mask usage mandatory in India. They have only sent an advisory to refrain from going to crowded places and if you must go then try using the mask.”

Health Expert Dr CBK Mohanty who was also present in the meeting, said, “Centre has already advised all the States to conduct genome sequencing of every Covid positive sample. The ICMR and ILS are already doing it in Odisha and SCB medical College is going to start genome sequencing shortly. So we are prepared for every eventuality.”