Bhubaneswar: Amid the sudden spurt in Covid-19 cases in the districts bordering Chhattisgarh, the Odisha government has decided to enhance surveillance on the movement of people from the neighbouring state.
Health department sources said that the State government is also focusing on aggressive testing and tracking of positive cases among the people coming from Chhattisgarh.
Odisha reported 573 positive cases in the last 24 hours, nearly 40 per cent of which are from the districts bordering Chhattisgarh. This is the highest single-day spike of coronavirus cases reported this year. This has come as a big challenge for the health administration in the State.
Health officials said the movement of people from the high-risk states is closely monitored apart from aggressive testing and localising containment measures. As the Central guideline prohibits restriction on movement of inter-State bus services, the State government has decided to hold talks with the Collectors and SPs in bordering districts of Chhattisgarh to decide further course of action.
“The State government is fully alert on the surge of Covid-19 in the bordering districts. The district administration has been ordered to take necessary steps and intensify the vaccination drive to control transmission of the virus in the districts reporting surge in positive cases. More focus will be given to the vulnerable people with comorbidities,” stated Bijay Panigrahy, Director of State Health and Family Welfare Department.
Meanwhile, Panigrahy said that the State is running short of Covishield vaccines.
“There is stock of six lakh doses of Covishield, which will be exhausted in two days. The government has written a letter to the Centre seeking supply of adequate vaccines. However, there is sufficient amount of Covaxin vaccines,” said Panigrahy adding that 33,04,732 vaccine doses have so far been administered in the State and it has been targeted to vaccinate 1.16 crore people.