Odisha’s Ganjam district has not shown signs of community transmission of COVID-19, despite inflow of over 1.3 lakh migrant workers and detection of 499 positive cases till Wednesday afternoon.
Ganjam has the highest number of positive cases as well as largest inflow of returnees in Odisha. Inflow of returnees is expected to continue in June, which makes this month crucial for the district.
According to Ganjam collector, Vijay Amruta Kulange, most of the positive cases detected so far in the district were returnees, who were in institutional quarantine. All local positive cases were directly connected to the returnees.
At present over 70,000 persons of the district are in home quarantine after finishing seven days mandatory institutional quarantine. The collector advised people not to visit those in home quarantine.
Through a programme named ‘Mo Swasthya, Mo Dayitwa’ (My Health, My Responsibility), Ganjam district administration has decided to train around 40,000 panchahyat level peer leaders in the district. These volunteers will be the catalysts to make every person in the district aware of measures like regular hand washing, social distancing and use of masks to break chain of infection of COVID-19.