BHUBANESWAR: Worried over the continuous surge in positive cases in the Twin City of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, the Odisha government on Monday warned people to bring behavioural changes and ensure strict compliance to the COVID-19 guidelines or face strong action.
Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) PK Jena held a televised media briefing on the issue as the COVID situation has worsening in both the cities after the lockdown restrictions were relaxed from September 1. During the last seven days people have become callous and there is no seriousness towards the pandemic, he pointed out.
Jena said that 10 senior IAS and IPS officers had made surprise visits to different places in both the cities on Friday and based on their feedback videos were shot by drones next day. "The videos showed that people are crowding market places, not maintaining social distance and also not wearing masks. With such behaviour, we are inviting the virus home and will never be able to win this fight against COVID-19. Such unnecessary trips outside the house should be avoided," he said.
Bhubaneswar reported 394 COVID-19 positive cases on Monday. It is after four days that the State Capital reported less than 400 cases. The city had reported 541 cases on September 2 which increased to a record 580 on September 4. On September 5 and 6, Bhubaneswar recorded 409 and 483 cases respectively. Total cases in the city mounted to 13,689 with 5,099 active cases and 49 deaths.
Cuttack reported 247 positive cases on Monday taking the total number to 6,422. While 4,649 patients have recovered, the number of active cases is 1,743. Cuttack city has reported 30 deaths so far. "There have been incidents in which an entire apartment has been infected because of this careless attitude, especially among the youngsters. There is a need to stop this," he said.
The SRC announced that enforcement activities of the local administration and police will be intensified from Wednesday to ensure strict adherence to all COVID-19 guidelines including washing of hand, social distancing and wearing of masks. The surprise checks will continue and violators will be heavily penalised.
The SRC requested the heads of the families, sensible citizens, community leaders and leaders of civil societies to come forward in their respective levels to create awareness. "Due to lockdown and shutdown, economy of the State as well as the country has been affected. To reboot the economy, there is a need to balance between life and livelihood. Therefore, we should be more careful and responsible," he reiterated.