Will Odisha opt for harsh measures?
BHUBANESWAR: WITH Covid-19 positive cases witnessing an exponential rise in Odisha during the last 24 hours, the question in everyone’s mind now is will the State government go for stricter measures to control the infection rate as the restrictions put in place so far have failed to yield results.
Imposition of weekend shutdown and night curfew in all urban areas of the State has not been able to keep a check on the virus spread. Particularly worrisome has been the rapid increase in cases in Khurda district and the Capital city of Bhubaneswar. Sources said that the worsening situation in the Capital city has put the State government in a dilemma.
Highly placed sources said that though a decision has not been taken about stricter measures for Bhubaneswar to bring down the infection rate, if the growth in the positive cases continues at the present pace nothing can be ruled out.
After remaining around 6,000 positive cases for the last three days, Odisha saw a growth of 38 per cent cases on Wednesday with 8,386 more people testing positive during the last 24 hours. The Capital city also reported its highest-ever single-day spike of 1,044 new cases in the last 24 hours pushing the active case tally close to 6,500-mark.
While reviewing the Covid-19 situation on Tuesday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said that the constant rise of positive cases in border districts of the State has emerged as a challenge for the government. He had also clearly maintained that he does not favour lockdowns and shutdowns as they would have an impact on the economy of the State.
Sources, however, maintained that if the situation continued to worsen at the present rate, it is not unlikely on the part of the State government to go for harsher measures like other states including New Delhi, Karnataka and Maharashtra.