Ganjam spike: 28 to 71 in 24 hrs

BERHAMPUR: From 28 Covid-19 cases on Thursday, the number of positive patients in the Ganjam hotspot rose to 71 with the district reporting 43 new cases on Friday. While one among them patients is a Kerala returnee, the rest 70 had returned from Surat. All the patients were symptomatic and administration has started their contact tracing. Besides, the temporary Covid care centres where these patients were quarantined have been sanitised. 

In the last two days, over 100 swab samples have been sent for test. All the 71 patients are undergoing treatment at Covid-19 hospital at Sitalapalli near Berhampur. Meanwhile, on Thursday night, a train carrying 1,186 migrant workers from Surat reached Jaganathpur and they were sent to Covid care centres. A bus carrying another 32 Surat returnees reached the quarantine centre at Aryapalli village under Chatrapur block late in the night. 

However, when the quarantine centre staff tried to deboard the returnees from the bus, they faced protest by locals who pelted stones, bricks and bottles at the vehicle. With the quarantine centre located in the middle of the village, they demanded the returnees be sent back. When the situation went out of control, police had to resort to lathicharge. In the melee that ensued, some Government employees and police personnel were injured. Ganjam SP Brijesh Roy, BDO Ambika Prasad Dash and other officials rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control. However, as locals refused to allow the returnees into the centre, the officials had to send them to quarantine centres in other panchayats. Eleven of the 32 returnees belonged to Aryapalli. 

With positive cases surging in Ganjam with the bulk being returnees, fear has gripped the local people. The people and political parties have started opposing the move of the Government to bring the migrants back. Working president of District Congress Committee, Pitabas Panda said the BJD Government is playing with lives of people by bringing in migrant workers from Covid hotspots for political benefit.
In another development, Sarpanch of Manitara panchayat Santilata Nayak on Thursday imposed shutdown from 11 am to 7 am in the area till May 15. 

Santilata said she took the decision as Surat returnees have been lodged in quarantine centres at Huguda, Manitara, Tambiri, Makarapalli, Sapuapalli and Mangarajpur. “None of the returnees have any symptoms of coronavirus but since infection cannot be ruled out entirely, I decided to shutdown the villages for 20 hours. People can buy their grocery and vegetables within the four hours of relaxation from markets nearby while maintaining social distancing norms”, she said.

Surat returnee dies in quarantine centre
Berhampur: A Surat returnee Prafulla Behera died in a quarantine centre at Dhunkapada village under Polasara block on Friday. The 45-year-old man was a native of Madhupalli and was lodged in the Gupteswar Nodal School quarantine centre since Tuesday. He was ailing ever since he returned from Surat and when his condition worsened on Friday, the centre staff called an ambulance to take him to hospital. However, before the ambulance could arrive, Prafulla breathed his last. Chhatrapur Sub-Collector and other officials rushed to the centre and sent the body for postmortem. The death left other inmates of the centre and locals panicked. Officials said the reason behind the death can only be ascertained after postmortem and tests which would be conducted on Saturday.