CUTTACK: A day after 25 students and cook of a private residential college in Cuttack tested positive for Covid-19, another 17 new cases were detected from a city-based residential educational institution near Madhupatna. Around 32 swab samples were collected from students, staff and devotees of the institution and sent for RT-PCR test on Wednesday of which, 17 have been tested positive.
Despite the new cases that point to a possible resurgence of the virus in the Millennium city after a lull of about two months, authorities of Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) are yet to chalk out any strategy and intensify the enforcement activities against COVID-19 protocol violations to contain the spread of infection.
Though people continue to flout the safety protocols like wearing masks and maintaining social distance, the civic body is yet to wake up from its slumber to take necessary precautionary measures by acting tough against violators. In almost all the markets of the city, people are crowding shops throwing the safe distance norm to the wind.
Even as people can be seen not wearing masks, shopkeepers are allegedly not insisting their customers to mask up. Health experts said there is no fear of law among the people due to lack of strict enforcement activities either by the civic body or the police. Cuttack may soon be staring at a situation like Maharashtra if the civic body does not act now, they said.
If lack of enforcement was not enough, the CMC is also not maintaining surveillance on people returning to the city from other States. "We cannot carry out enforcement activities as we are engaged in evicting and rehabilitating slum dwellers for Taladanda canal road expansion work. We have asked police to carry out enforcement against the Covid violators," said CMC Enforcement Officer Abinash Rout.