BHUBANESWAR: AS Covid-19 positive cases continued to remain high in hotspot districts of Khurda, Cuttack, Sundargarh and Rayagada, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday asked officials to adopt location specific strategy to contain spread of the deadly virus in these areas within the next one week.
The Chief Minister reviewed the coronavirus situation in State through video conference and said Odisha has become the number one state by conducting 1096 tests per 10 lakh people. Besides, the number of tests has also reached 50,000 mark during the week, Naveen said and appreciated the hard work of the Health department, district collectors and their teams for accomplishing these feats. He asked the collectors to properly manage the test kit supply chain to keep up the momentum.
Stating that more than 50 lakh people including panchayat representatives, members of self help groups and Covid Committee groups have been trained in corona containment, the Chief Minister described this as a big success for the State.
Naveen said as the number of asymptomatic cases is more in the State, such patients should be advised to undergo home quarantine.He asked collectors to launch a special campaign in this regard by taking help of the panchayat representatives and members of Covid Committees to clear any misgivings in the minds of people about home quarantine. He said special role should be given to the district observers in the campaign.
Asking officials to maintain low Covid death rate in Odisha as every life is precious, Naveen said corporate and other organisations should come forward to set up more Covid Care Centres.Appreciating sacrifice of the plasma donors, the Chief Minister asked collectors to give them recommendation letters. As plasma therapy has emerged as a good procedure for treatment of Covid patients, the Chief Minister directed that another plasma bank be opened at Koraput MCH within the next week.