BHUBANESWAR: The State government on Wednesday announced intensified screening and testing of people arriving at the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) even as the sample of a Maharashtra returnee, who was found infected, has been sent for genome sequencing at Institute of Life Sciences (ILS) here.
The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has set up a camp at the airport for screening every passenger arriving from outside. Those with symptoms will have to undergo RT-PCR test mandatorily, Commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhary said.
Two teams have been formed to work in two shifts, from 7 am to 2 pm and 2 pm to 9 pm, for screening and testing at the airport. Focus will be on states like Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh which are witnessing a resurgence of the virus.
Officials said passengers without symptoms will also be advised to undergo voluntary testing. “Those undergoing RT-PCR test will be asked to stay in strict isolation till their reports come,” said an official. As institutional quarantine facilities have been shut down, the passengers will stay in home-isolation, the official said.
Meanwhile, a 34-year-old man of Soro in Balasore district tested positive for Covid-19, a day after returning from Maharashtra on February 20. As two new variants of SARS-CoV-2 have been detected in Maharashtra, the government has taken no chances and immediately sent his sample for genome sequencing.
Director of Public Health Dr Niranjan Mishra said the report and other epidemiological and clinical information are expected in next couple of days. Health officials have also started contact tracing of the youth and contacting his co-passengers of the bus after it was learnt that he had returned from Maharashtra.
Health department sources said no new strain of the virus has been detected in Odisha so far. As many as 190 samples collected during November and December last year were sequenced in the second phase and 20A and 20B clades were found in most of the samples.
“No mutants have been found in the State so far. The ILS is now sequencing 104 samples collected during January. The sequencing report is awaited,” the sources added.