As Ganjam district in Odisha accounts for a sizeable chunk of Odia people who are residing in Surat, the return of lockdown like harsh restrictions and the fear of rising infections in the second wave of the pandemic have forced thousands to pack their bags on a return journey back to their home State.
The situation has now led to a huge influx of migrants in Ganjam district stoking fears of grave Corona crisis last year that made the district the worst-hit hotspot region of the pandemic in Odisha.
Even though the Odisha government has shut down the intra and inter-state bus operations especially after the enforcement of 14-day lockdown, but operation of train services has helped people return to Odisha.
Hundreds of Surat returnees were seen gathering for transport service at Baramunda bus stand after deboarding at Bhubaneswar railway station today.
Sources said around 17000 migrants have returned o Ganjam in the last few days and the district administration has said that proper home quarantine arrangements have been made for the returnees.
Ganjam Collector Vijay Amruta Kulange who led an exemplary fight in the Covid fightback last year has said that the situation is control this time around. It is worthwhile to mention here that last year, a whopping 7 lakh people had returned to Ganjam district during the lockdown period.
Meanwhile, the Surat Textile Association has closed down all the textile mills in the city for the next 15 days in view of a massive surge in cases of Covid 19 and the restriction has once again jolted a huge setback to the livelihood of lakhs of local Odia residents just months after suffering immeasurable hardships during the first wave of the pandemic.
ln view of the COVID19 outbreak, the medical officers are hereby deployed at the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH), Ganjam in exigencies of public interest with immediate effect, an official notification read.
As per reports, along with the 130 (above mentioned) doctors, 5 OAS officers, 47 ORS (Group-B) officers and 33 laboratory technicians have also been sent to the COVID hotspot district to tackle the situation.
Ganjam tops among the districts of Odisha with 4,335 COVID-19 positive cases so far. As many as 44 persons have succumbed to the disease in the district accounting for more than half of the total casualties in the States.
Earlier, the district administration had declared shutdown in all urban local bodies (ULBs) of the district from July 9 to July 13 for a hassle-free door-to-door Covid-19 screening in Ganjam.
A total of 200 teams were formed comprising at least a doctor and two Anganwadi workers to carry out screening in the area. Each team were ordered to do a screening of at least 150 households.
(Edited By Bikram Keshari Jena)
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According to the study, published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Strong correlations were found between keyword searches on the internet search engine Google Trends and Covid-19 outbreaks in parts of the US.
These correlations were observed up to 16 days prior to the first reported cases in some states.
"Our study demonstrates that there is information present in Google Trends that precedes outbreaks, and with predictive analysis, this data can be used for better allocating resources with regards to testing, personal protective equipment, medications and more," said study author Mohamad Bydon from Mayo Clinic -- a health care company in the US.
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"Looking at Google Trends data, we found that we were able to identify predictors of hotspots, using keywords, that would emerge over a six-week timeline," Bydon added.
Several studies have noted the role of internet surveillance in early prediction of previous outbreaks such as H1N1 and Middle East respiratory syndrome.
There are several benefits to using internet surveillance methods versus traditional methods, and this study says a combination of the two methods is likely the key to effective surveillance.
The study searched for 10 keywords that were chosen based on how commonly they were used and emerging patterns on the internet and in Google News at that time.
The keywords were: Covid symptoms, Coronavirus symptoms, sore throat, shortness of breath+fatigue+cough, coronavirus testing centre, loss of smell, antibody, face mask and more.
Most of the keywords had moderate to strong correlations days before the first Covid-19 cases were reported in specific areas, with diminishing correlations following the first case.
"Each of these keywords had varying strengths of correlation with case numbers," said Bydon.
If we had looked at 100 keywords, we may have found even stronger correlations to cases. As the pandemic progresses, people will search for new and different information, so the search terms also need to evolve," Bydon added.
The use of web search surveillance data is important as an adjunct for data science teams who are attempting to predict outbreaks and new hotspots in a pandemic.
"Any delay in information could lead to missed opportunities to improve preparedness for an outbreak in a certain location," the authors noted.
(IANS)
All those who have tested positive including research scholars and staff have been admitted to the Kings Institute here.
The students allege that the IIT-M's decision to run only one mess could be the most probable reason for the large scale spread of coronavirus.
One cannot ensure mask or social distancing as students mostly eat and are in congregation -- that too in large numbers.
A total of 774 students are in the campus and most of those who were infected were residents of two hostels -- Krishna and Jamuna.
"These two hostels were not used as Covid-19 quarantine centres. The infection could be multiple sources," a research scholar told IANS preferring anonymity.
According to the scholar, there are women students who have been infected and admitted in the Kings Institute.
On December 6, there was an information that about five tested positive for the virus in Krishna Hostel. Five more tested positive on December 7/8. After that inmates of Krishna hostel were asked to go into quarantine and everybody was asked to undergo tests, the scholar added.
Queried about informing the parents, the scholar said all are mature and have been diagnosed with minimal symptoms.
"As of now I haven't seen parents coming to Kings Institute," the scholar said.
The IIT-M has decided to shutdown all its departments, centres and asked their staff to work from home and anyone with the symptoms like fever, dry cough, sore throat, diarrhoea, loss of taste /smell, or any other symptoms have been requested to get in touch the hospital officials.
The post graduate students, research scholars and others have been asked to be confined to their rooms with arrangements made to deliver food to their rooms.
On Sunday, 32 fresh coronavirus infected cases were reported and the Tamil Nadu government has instructed that all the students be tested for the virus infection.
Till Sunday, there were 66 students and five staff members who had tested positive for coronavirus infection.
According to officials, the students who had returned to the campus were quarantined for two weeks, but the quarantining capacity is limited.
Those who have been infected with coronavirus are progressing well, officials said.
(With IANS Inputs)