Social functions linked to Cuttack’s Covid case load

CUTTACK: Social functions in the times of Covid pandemic and the blatant disregard to safety norms by people is beginning to spell disaster for the extremely vulnerable Cuttack city. The latest coronavirus clusters in the city like Old Rausapatna Khatbin Sahi and Dewan Bazaar are linked to wedding and birthday parties.

On July 12, five cases were detected in Old Rausapatna who had no travel history. Three more cases were detected from the area a day later and another 11 on July 15. Currently, the Covid tally of Old Rausapatana is 59. Health officials informed that the first five patients were infected after attending a marriage ceremony in another locality of the city. They had also attended a birthday party in Old Rausapatna, infecting others.

Similarly, a wedding at Parida Sahi in Sankarpur a few days back is suspected to have caused infection in over 15 persons in the last four days. On Wednesday, eight cases were detected from Dewan Bazaar and five of these are said to be linked with Khatbin Sahi cases.

In another case, a resident of Khatbin Sahi in Ward 15 fell ill after returning from Berhampur on July 6. He was admitted to SCB MCH’s isolation ward. The man, however, escaped from the ward and stayed at home. When his condition deteriorated, he visited Capital hospital where his swab sample was collected for test on July 12. However, the patient died on July 13 following which his family buried his body. Three days later, the his report came out positive. Subsequently, Health officials collected swab samples of 40 persons who had come in contact with the person and 32 of them tested positive.

In the last 24 hours, the city reported 93 fresh cases including eight local contacts. Meanwhile, the district on Friday reported 46 freshcases taking to the tally to 1605.