A student who returned from Italy and belonging to the city tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday — the first reported case in Odisha.
After tests conducted at the Regional Medical Research Centre confirmed the case, the student is being kept under observation in an isolated ward in Capital Hospital here.
His father and domestic help have also been kept in isolation and their blood and swab have been sent for test.
The student had returned from Italy to India on March 6. After his screening at New Delhi, he was kept in quarantine along with others. On March 12, he took a train from New Delhi to Bhubaneswar.
On March 13, he caught a cold and started sneezing and coughing. As his condition did not improve, he was admitted in the Capital Hospital on March 14. He was at his home from March 12 to 14.
Family wants another test
Family members are demanding that another test be conducted on him, stating that he was allowed to return home at 9 p.m. on Sunday but after three hours doctors informed that he had contracted the virus.
All about COVID-19
Now, authorities are trying to contact the Indian Railway and trace other passengers who had travelled in that coach. Prior to this, all 24 cases had tested negative in the State.
Meanwhile, the Odisha government has cancelled leave of all government employees in five districts. In Ganjam district, Section 144 of the Cr. PC has been imposed in order to prevent crowding. Malls and cinema halls have been shut down in Bhubaneswar from Monday.
Visitors coming to the pilgrim town of Puri will be screened at a distance of seven km before being allowed.