Five more test coronavirus positive, Odisha total jumps to 79

Ashok Pradhan | TNN | Apr 21, 2020, 11:00 IST

A medic works on a sample for Covid-19 rapid test at a camp in Bhubaneswar

BHUBANESWAR: Five more persons tested positive for Covid-19, raising the number of people infected by the virus in Odisha to 79, the government authorities said on Tuesday.
“Five new positive cases found in Balasore. Total no of positive cases are 79 (All close relatives of previous positive case.) 34-years-old female, 38-years-old male, 12-years-old male, 34-years-old female and 26-years-old male,” the state information and public relations department tweeted.
The state had reported 13 positive cases on Monday, including two from Balasore, five each from Bhadrak and Jajpur districts and one from Sundargarh.
Keeping in mind the surge in cases in Balasore, Bhadrak and Jajpur, the government on Tuesday rushed three senior health department officers-- director health services to Balasore, director public health to Bhadrak and director family welfare to Jajpur-- to these districts to oversee the containment measures.
“Three state rapid response teams to proceed immediately these districts SCB MCH to provide technical support to Jajpur district. FMMCH has been supporting Balasore and Bhadrak districts,” the health department tweeted.
Among the 13 who tested positive on Monday, 10 had recent travel history to West Bengal.
Following this, the health department asked those who returned from West Bengal in past 28 days to quarantine themselves and inform the local sarpanch, block development officer or tehsildar.
“Of the 74 positive cases in the state, 24 persons have returned from West Bengal. The state government has expressed concern over the fact that one-third of state’s positive cases have recently returned from West Bengal. The district administrations have been told to take appropriate steps keeping this mind,” government spokesperson Subroto Bagchi said.
Bhadrak, designated a hotspot by the Union ministry of health and family welfare, had improved its place from red zone to orange because it had not reported any positive case for more than two weeks. It slipped to the red zone again with the five new cases. The district total positive cases rose to eight.
The Bhadrak district administration notified five panchayats—Kharida Binayakpur, Padampur and Laxmidashpur under Basudevpur block and Rahania and Tesinga under Bhandaripokhari block—as containment zones sealing all the entry and exit points. The Balasore district administration declared one containment zone in three wards of Raj Berhampur town in Nilagiri block.
On a positive note, state capital Bhubaneswar—the worst affected place in the state with 46 patients—has not reported any new positive case in past five days. Bhubaneswar has total 29 active positive cases as 17 have recovered and one died.
In the state, total active cases rose to 53 while 25 persons have already recovered and discharged while one died. Currently, 127 persons are in hospital isolation.
Odisha has so far tested 11748 samples using RT PCR method and 4861 samples using the rapid antibody test method, the health department updates on its website said.