BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to control the rapidly spreading Covid-19 infection, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday directed DGP Abhay to launch a 10-day special drive for strict enforcement of protocols across the State.
The special drive to be launched from Wednesday will continue till April 16.Reviewing the Covid situation in a meeting through video conference with all district collectors and senior officials, which lasted more than two hours, the Chief Minister ordered the DGP to deploy police personnel in large numbers during the special drive to enforce the guidelines. “We have to enforce the Covid safety protocols strictly to slow down the spread of the virus,” he emphasised.
As the surge seems to be mainly concentrated in the western Odisha districts adjoining Chhattisgarh border, Naveen also directed Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra, Additional Chief Secretary in the Health and Family Welfare department PK Mohapatra and senior officials to visit the areas for making an on-ground assessment and taking suitable urgent action. “We have to reactivate all our protocols and make the entire machinery work with enthusiasm and vigour,” he stressed.
The Chief Minister asked the Health department to immediately redeploy doctors, paramedics and laboratory technicians to western Odisha districts. “There should be sufficient hospital capacity to take care of the increasing cases,” he said and added that adequate ambulances with oxygen supply should be deployed in the highly affected areas.
He said that proper monitoring systems should be put in place to ensure that any emergency call is addressed in time and with a sense of urgency and sensitivity. “There should be no complaints about non-response of ambulance or lack of beds in the hospitals,” he warned.
The Chief Minister said that collectors should involve all sections of the society including the members of panchayati raj institutions and Mission Shakti groups to ensure awareness and enforcement. Besides, Information and Public Relations department should start a new awareness campaign to sensitise the citizens to follow norms of face mask, hand hygiene and social distancing, he added.
Warning that this new wave is highly infectious and may create a devastating situation, if not taken seriously, Naveen said the government will go for strict enforcement of Covid norms at institutional and individual level.
“We have been able to successfully control the first wave in spite of a challenging situation when the nature of the virus was unknown. We are now battle hardened and I am sure, we will be able to successfully tackle this resurgence.” he said. Naveen also appealed to people of Odisha to be alert and follow the norms and cooperate with the enforcement machinery. “There is no place for complacency as valuable lives are at stake,” he stated.