BHUBANESWAR: The State Government on Thursday decided to create area-wise WhatsApp groups of prominent persons in containment zones to disseminate information about testing and awareness among locals. Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy, in an order, asked officials to engage loudspeakers and rope in cable channels to carry out awareness drive in containment clusters. Out of the 60 COVID-19 positive cases detected in Odisha so far, 46 are from Bhubaneswar.
“The decision to disseminate information in the containment zones was taken after we found out that people were in the dark over what is happening around them. Loudspeakers should be used to update information about availability of essential items,” he said.
Stating that all containment zones have been barricaded, prohibiting entry and exit of persons, the Chief Secretary said once the area is sealed, teams of anganwadi workers, auxiliary nurse midwives and other health workers, under the guidance of community medicine and epidemiology experts, will move from house to house to check on people. Samples of those found exhibiting flu-like symptoms will be collected at random and sent for examination to rule out chances of local transmission, he said.
In a letter to the DGP and all Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries/Commissioner-cum-Secretaries, Collectors/Commissioner of Police, Municipal Commissioners, Executive Officers of Municipalities/NACs, Tripathy said supply of essentials and medicines at the doorsteps remains one of the biggest challenges faced by the officials in zones.
He asked officials to ensure that people were not inconvenienced. “People with disabilities, those living alone, pregnant women and aged persons should be given priority in these clusters,” he said. The Chief Secretary said if no new case is detected after conducting at least two rounds of survey, the Municipal Commissioner or Collector may ease restrictions in these areas in consultation with the Health department.