JEYPORE: Panic has spread in Ambaguda panchayat under Jeypore block after an anganwadi worker tested positive for Covid-19. Following the detection, villagers are reluctant to send their children to anganwadi centre in fear of catching the virus.
Sources said the infected anganwadi worker’s husband had visited a place outside Odisha and contracted the virus. He subsequently spread the infection to his wife. The anganwadi worker’s husband has been sent to the isolation centre at Koraput. The infected woman has been advised home isolation.
Sources said after the news of the infection spread, residents of nearby villages got panicky and are now not willing to send their kids to anganwadi centres. “The government has closed schools and colleges in the wake of surging Covid cases in the State.
However, pre-school classes are still underway in anganwadi centres. As kids are vulnerable to the new strain of Covid-19 in the second wave, the anganwadi centres should be closed immediately,” they said. Child development project officer (CDPO), Jeypore Pravati Tripathy said pre-school activities in the anganwadi centre where the worker was employed, have been suspended.
Plus III exams postponed
Meanwhile, authorities of VD College in Jeypore postponed the Plus Three third semester examinations for an indefinite period following protests by students on Thursday. As the college opened on the day, Plus Three students staged demonstration demanding online examination.
Later, college principal Gopal Haldar, Jeypore MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati and former minister Rabi Narayan Nanda held discussions with the agitating students. The students called off their protest after the college authorities postponed the third semester examination which were scheduled on April 19.