JAGATSINGHPUR: The district administration on Thursday pressed a health team into service to locate a man who recently visited Chandpur village in Raghunathpur after returning from China. The move came after novel Coronavirus (nCoV) panic gripped residents of Chandpur following the visit of Jagbandhu Mohapatra to the village. Sources said Mohapatra, who works in a private company in Mumbai, had gone to China on January 8 for some official work. He returned to Mumbai on January 15.

Mohapatra then went to his relative’s place at Balasore and stayed there till January 29. Later he visited his native village Chandpur. After getting information, the Health and Family Welfare department sent a letter to the Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO), Jagatsinghpur regarding presence of Mohapatra at Chandpur. CDMO Vijaya Panda then sent a medical team led by superintendent of Raghunathpur community health centre (CHC) Sukant Dalai to Chandpur to screen Mohapatra of any nCoV exposure.

However, the team failed to locate him as he had already left for Mumbai on January 31 after staying in the village for two days. The health officials contacted Mohapatra’s mother who clarified that her son didn’t have any symptoms of fever or cough after his arrival from China. Dalai said, “As per the directive of the Union Health Ministry, we have requested Mohapatra to self-examine himself for nCoV symptoms.”

Meanwhile, the authorities of Paradip Port Trust (PPT) have put in place strong measures to prevent any possible outbreak of the virus. Thermal scanners have been installed at Gate No 4 and an isolation ward made functional at PPT Hospital. So far, 16 ships have berthed and 20 are in the anchorage of Paradip port. Of these vessels, only one ship with two crew members had visited China after January 15. 

On arrival of the ship at berth, a health team led by Chief Medical Officer of PPT Prahllad Panda scanned the crew and after their green signal, cargo operations were started. Shore leaving has been prohibited for the crew of vessels having visited ports of China, Macau and Hong Kong after January 15. Daily update of the health status of the crew has been mandatory for all the vessels till their stay in Paradip waters.