Detection of people infected with COVID-19 from 10 major slums of Bhubaneswar has left the administration worried.
Odisha capital’s virus count crossed the 1,000 mark following 124 new cases on Friday — the biggest single day spike in for the city so far.
On June 30, the total positive cases in the city were 324. The COVID-19 cases increased by more than three times to reach 1,043 in the past 17 days. While 457 recovered from the disease, 574 were active cases.
Of the new 124 cases, 72 cases were detected in quarantine centres, 52 were from the community.
As per the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), community cases were reported from 10 major slums, including Salia Sahi, Halidipadia, Maa Mangala Basti and Mahisakhai Basti.
The Unit-4 fish market — city’s largest — has been shut down after some vendors were found infected with the virus. Trinatha Basti continued to be a containment zone. Similarly, Sitapur Basti has also been declared as a red zone. On July 14, after detection of nine cases in Laxmi Bazzar Basti, the BMC had declared it as a containment zone too.
Serological survey
Last week, a serological survey was taken up in Bhubaneswar to monitor the transmission of COVID19 in the general population and high-risk groups of the city. This was carried out across all the wards of the city, findings of which would help assess the extent of spread.
Strict surveillance continued in Bhubaneswar with focus on the slum areas. “Each person in the slum areas is being checked repeatedly in a phase-wise manner and if any symptoms are found they are being tested. Now, the team is into the sixth round of surveillance,” said the BMC.
As many as 436 teams carried out surveys in Bhubaneswar. Meanwhile, the police announced to implement 14-days of lockdown in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack beginning from Saturday.