BERHAMPUR: Even as positive cases continue to spike in Covid hotspot Ganjam, the administration on Friday said 84 per cent of the villages and 55 per cent of urban areas in the district are in the green zone.
Of the 3,053 villages in the district, 2,611 are in green zone and 544 in red zone. Ganjam Collector Vijay Kulange said swab samples of one lakh people in the district were collected, which is the highest in the country. Of them, 14,122 persons were tested positive for Covid-19. The RT-PCR and rapid antigen tests have helped in checking the spread of coronavirus in the district, he said.
All facilities including medicines and beds are available in plenty for Covid-19 patients of the district. Ganjam has 5,028 beds in Covid homes of which only 180 are being occupied. Similarly of the 3,744 beds at Covid care centres, only 461 are filled up. Of the 588 beds at Covid-19 hospitals, 261 have been occupied by patients.Kulange urged the public to follow the Covid guidelines strictly to contain the virus spread.
Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) Commissioner Chakravorty Singh Rathore said the Covid situation in the city is under control. He also informed that the two-day weekend shutdown will continue till further order.Sources said mobile vans are moving in Polasara and Seragada blocks to spread awareness on mental health and symptoms of stress arising due to the pandemic situation.
Meanwhile, 280 new Covid-19 cases were detected in Ganjam in the last 24 hours. The fresh cases include 20 frontline workers, three with travel history and 257 active contacts. With this, the total number of positive cases in the district rose to 14,122 of which 12,069 have recovered.
On the day, four more Covid-19 deaths were reported from Ganjam, taking the toll to 151 in the district.
On the other hand, a team led by Berhampur sub-divisional magistrate Sweta Kumar Das sealed 21 shops in the city for violating Covid-19 guidelines. The shops include hotels, fancy stores, ration outlets and studio. A fine of `1,44,500 was collected from the violators.