BERHAMPUR: Amid attempts of the State Government to contain the virus spread in COVID hotspot Ganjam, the district reported another 286 positive cases, including 85 from Berhampur city, and three deaths in the last 24 hours. The deaths include a frontline worker who succumbed at the Covid-19 hospital in Sitalapali. The latest victim, head clerk of Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) Upendra Majhi, was found positive on July 11.
Since Majhi was engaged in Covid duty in BeMC areas, several staff of the civic body came in contact with him. BeMC Commissioner Chakravorty Singh Rathore said the civic body office has been shutdown for 14 days. Only the health and Covid sections in the office will remain open. Besides, the staff who came in contact with Majhi have been asked to stay in quarantine for 14 days and the victim’s contact tracing is on. So far, 46 persons have died due to Covid-19 in Ganjam of which eight are frontline workers.
Among those who died on Wednesday are males aged 65 and 86 years. While one was a diabetic, the other was suffering from chronic hypertension. In view of the deteriorating situation in Ganjam, the State Government on Tuesday deputed 130 doctors, five OAS officers and 32 ORS officers bes i d e s 3 3 l ab o r a t o r y technicians to the district for effective Covid-19 management. These officers will join duty in the district on Thursday.
Besides, an advance life support ambulance with a driver will also be sent to Ganjam. Meanwhile, shutdown in seven NACs was imposed on Wednesday. These are Chhatrapur, Khalikote, Kab i s u r y a n a g a r , Rambha,Kodala, Polasara and Purusottampur. Ganjam Collector Vijay Amruta Kulange said, “We are conducting contact tracing of patients, isolating suspected cases while doorstep health screening through rapid antigen tests is on.” The district is also carrying out sanitisation drives in various areas to prevent the virus from spreading. So far, Ganjam has reported 4,621 positive cases of which 2,971 have recovered.