BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday asked the State administration not to be complacent and continue to keep a close watch on the Covid-19 situation.
Reviewing the pandemic situation in the State virtually, the Chief Minister emphasised on completion of booster vaccination for the senior citizens and frontline workers. The number of positive cases in the State has stabilised and new infections have also gone down but this is not the time to relax the implementation of guidelines, he said.
Naveen directed the police to make extra efforts to ensure that the people abide by all Covid-19 guidelines. The rapid response teams (RRTs) and field workers should also monitor the condition of Covid patients in home isolation properly, he said and added that public awareness campaigns on all aspects of the pandemic should be continued with the cooperation of Mission Shakti self help groups (SHGs). Naveen said that there is no reason to panic over the situation.
Additional Chief Secretary (Health) RK Sharma, in a detailed presentation on the Covid situation in the State, informed that while the daily testing has gone up to 65,000-70,000, the positivity rate has remained at 11.4 percent which is less than the national average. He, however, said that the positivity rate in Jajpur, Balasore, Cuttack, Sundargarh and Khurda still remained comparatively high.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Chief Minister called upon the people to abide by guidelines to fight the third wave of Covid pandemic. In his Republic Day message, Naveen said that the pandemic will soon be over with everyone’s cooperation and life will return to normal. He also paid tributes to Covid warriors who lost their lives in the pandemic.