CUTTACK: Gross mismanagement by the administration has worsened the Covid-19 situation in rural areas of Cuttack district.
Inadequate Covid care centres (CCCs) have emerged as a cause of concern in the villages as in the absence of toilets and extra rooms, home isolation is not feasible for those testing positive. Rangabada village in Sagar gram panchayat of Narasinghpur block represents the sorry state of affairs. Of the 60 samples collected for RT-PCR test from the village two days back, as many as 43 turned out to be positive following which the village was declared a containment zone for a week.
Rangadaba village has around 180 families and most of its residents are labourers. With meagre means, those who tested positive are now finding it tough to remain in home isolation due to inadequate space and separate toilets. “I am staying outside as there is no extra room in my house. Performing daily ablutions has become an uphill task,” said a 45-year-old man.
As the single 100 bed CCC at Narasinghpur has no space to accommodate more patients, the administration is now shifting symptomatic patients to the CCC set up 25 km away at Badamba block.
Similarly, the administration has declared Subalaya village in Kokalaba gram panchayat, Bagadharia village in Champeswar gram panchayat and Rusipada in Haripur gram panchayat as containment zones after detection of cluster infections from the localities.
“We are facing difficulties in monitoring symptomatic Covid cases due to inadequate CCCs. We have apprised local MLA, Devi Prasada Mishra of the matter. The legislator has discussed the issue of setting up another CCC in Narasinghpur with the Collector,” said a block health official.
As many as 748 persons so far have been tested positive for the virus in the last 38 days at different villages in Narasinghpur block. While only 5 positive cases were detected from April 2 to April 10, as many as 748 positive cases have been detected from April 11 to May 18 in the block. The virus is said to have claimed seven lives in the area during the second wave. Last year, 479 persons were infected by the virus and the disease had claimed 10 lives in the block. The surge in positive cases is believed to be due to return of migrants to villages in the block.