BHUBANESWAR: As Covid-19 cases continue to explode in the Capital city, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Friday banned visitors’ entry into its premises.
Bhubaneswar which had reported 1,055 cases on Thursday, saw another 1,188 new cases in the last 24 hours pushing the active case tally to 6,500. More than 90 cases were reported from Covid hotspot Khandagiri, Chandrasekharpur, Patia, Nayapalli, while 88 cases were reported from the Old Town area of the city. More than 50 cases were also reported from Jharpada, while 47 persons were found infected in Rasulgarh.
The infection which has taken almost all areas into its grip prompted the civic body to declare 10 more residential units and the first floor of the regional office of Union Bank of India in Nayapalli as micro-containment zones. With this, the total number of active micro-containment zones in the city rose to 103. Of this, 45 are in the southeast zone, while 29 each are in the southwest and north zones.
The rapid transmission forced the BMC to ban public entry to its premises till further orders. Multiple members of staff also tested positive in BMC zonal offices. Five senior officials including three bureaucrats and two engineers are among the BMC staff who are undergoing treatment for Covid-19 infection. Keeping the rising infection in view, it is being mulled to test visitors through rapid antigen before allowing them entry into the BDA office, sources said.