BHUBANESWAR : Amid skyrocketing cases and blatant violation of safety protocols by the people, Covid situation is steadily slipping into dire conditions in the State Capital. The active caseload has now inched closer to 4,500 with Bhubaneswar recording its highest single-day spike of 698 new cases in the last 24 hours. A death due to the infection was also reported in the city after a gap of over two months.
A whopping 58 cases were reported from the worst-affected Nayapalli while 39 were recorded from Patia. Old Town and Chandrasekharpur also reported 32 and 28 cases respectively. Baramunda reported 24 cases. With seven persons of a family testing positive in Acharya Vihar, the civic body on Friday collected samples from another 10 members and relatives of the family for RT-PCR test.
Despite all claims to keep the virus in check through awareness, additional restrictions and fines, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) in no way has been able to control the resurgence. Though the civic body has decentralised major markets and managed to regulate crowd, people who thronged the fish market at Shastri Nagar and Unit-IV and vegetable markets at Unit-I, II, IV, Nayapalli and other places continued to flout the social distancing norms in the absence of adequate enforcement.
The situation was even worse in some of the hospitals including Capital Hospital where people made a bee line to receive their antigen test report without the mandatory provision of six feet distance from one another. Neither the hospital authorities nor police personnel were present to control the rush.
Ahead of the weekend shutdown, heavy rush was witnessed at several markets as people resorted to panic buying on Friday. In a bid to hoard essential items, the city residents thronged the markets in large numbers. The BMC officials said they have intensified their Sampark Abhiyan in different parts of the city to create awareness among people to take all safety precautions. It has also mobilised 39 Rapid Response Teams formed to track patients in home isolation and quarantine.
Worst-hit areas
58 cases from Nayapalli
39 from Patia
32 from Old Town
28 from Chandrasekharpur
24 from Baramunda