BERHAMPUR: Amid the worsening coronavirus crisis in Ganjam, the administration on Thursday decided to enforce total shutdown in the district for four days in a week.
In a video message, Ganjam Collector Vijay Amruta Kulange said the shutdown will remain in force from Saturday to Tuesday every week. Only medicine shops will remain open and delivery of milk will be allowed during the four days.
The Collector appealed to the public to cooperate with the administration in its fight against Covid-19. Earlier, the administration had imposed 19 hours of shutdown on weekdays and total shutdown on Saturdays and Sundays,
Meanwhile, the Government has decided to engage administrative officials of Ganjam district in Covid duty on a rotation basis. The moves comes after 14 officials of the district tested positive for Covid-19.
Principal Secretary of Housing and Urban Development department and nodal administrative officer for Ganjam G Mathivathanan said Government officials in the district will be given rest for a day after three consecutive days of work. On the day, Mathivathanan reviewed the ongoing programmes to contain coronavirus spread in Ganjam at Chhatrapur.
He held discussions with district officials on ways to overcome the challenges in the virus fight and proper implementation of preventive measures to contain Covid-19. Mathivathanan also visited several places in the district.
Kulange informed the meeting that a total of 2,16,820 migrant workers have returned to the district so far. While 1,27,234 workers have returned 227 trains, 44,382 have reached by buses and the rest 45,204 by other means. Health check-up of all the returnees were conducted and swab samples of 13,754 workers have been collected.
So far, 12,306 samples have been tested of which 10,88 have been found positive including eight deaths. As many as 768 cases have recovered. Kulange said door-to-door health screening is being carried out by 70 medical teams in the district. Besides, anganwadi workers are being trained to face the Covid-19 challenge.
Many areas in several blocks of the district have been declared containment and buffer zones after detection of local positive cases. The Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) along with police has barricaded over 30 places in the city.
Several streets in the city have also been closed and only pedestrians are allowed to commute. All the roads, barring a few, have been sealed for an indefinite period.