Berhampur: Ganjam reported no coronavirus case on Monday- the district’s first zero Covid-19 infection day in over six months as the district had reported its first positive case on May 2.
Announcing the achievement, Ganjam collector tweeted, "Today we have 3597 Rapid Antigen Test. All negative. First time we got RAT totally zero. Credit goes to efforts of all Covid warriors and team Ganjam. Use mask, keep practice of hand washing."
The district, once the COVID-19 hotspot of Odisha, has so far reported 21,395 positive cases of which 21,043 have already recovered while 232 succumbed to the disease. Currently, there are 112 active cases in the district.
After the detection of the first positive case on May 2, the total cases had already crossed 10,000 by the end of July in Ganjam. However, the average daily new detections came down gradually in August due to aggressive testing and extensive screening by the district administration.
This apart, the district had also undertaken a second round of screening for all recovered COVID-19 patients.
The district administration also took up a new initiative and appointed 'COVID bandhus' who assisted it in persuading symptomatic people to go for testing. Recovered patients were also appointed under the drive to counsel positive patients and spread awareness about the virus.