BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government has stepped up surveillance in the districts bordering Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and West Bengal following the detection of Omicron cases in the neighbouring states.
The districts, bordering the three states, have been asked to keep track of people returning from there and ensure RT-PCR testing of all symptomatic cases and their contacts.
The health officials of eight bordering districts have been directed to ramp up vaccination and ensure that all senior citizens, people with comorbidities and pregnant women are covered by the month-end.
While one case was found in Andhra Pradesh a couple of days back, two cases were detected in Telangana and one from West Bengal on Wednesday. The West Bengal case is a seven-year-old boy who had recently returned from Abu Dhabi via Hyderabad.
After landing at Kolkata he had travelled to his native in a train. He is now undergoing treatment at a local hospital in Murshidabad district. However, his parents have tested negative. Director of Health Services Dr. Bijay Mohapatra said that Odisha is on alert after the detection of Omicron cases in the neighbouring states. Districts have been asked to intensify surveillance on people returning from these states and test them if anyone develops symptoms.
“Like the previous waves, migrants are a major concern for us. Our prime job is to track them with the help of PRI members and ensure that they have RT-PCR negative reports. Village healthcare workers will also check their vaccination status and get them inoculated if they are not fully vaccinated,” Dr. Mohapatra added. Meanwhile, the State recorded a spike in new cases as 218 infections reported in the last 24 hours as against 175 cases a day before pushing the active cases to 1,817. With 117 cases, Khurda contributed 53 per cent of the daily caseload.