Govt: Enough beds in quarantine centres to tackle migrant rush
Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy briefs the media on Tuesday
BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Tuesday said return of more migrants from different states will not pose a problem for the authorities as only 30 per cent of the total quarantine facilities has been used in the districts so far.
“Though around 8 lakh beds have been created in over 16,000 temporary medical camps or quarantine centres, only 3 lakh beds were occupied. Also, around 1 lakh people have been sent home on successful completion of institutional quarantine,” chief secretary Asit Tripathy during a news conference.
Official figures claim over 3 lakh people have returned to the state in the last four weeks by trains, buses and other vehicles while around 5 lakh more are expected to return in the next few weeks. Amid reports about social stigma against people returning from institutional quarantine facilities, the chief secretary said there has been improvement on the issue in the past 7-10 days. “The community is now accepting returnees upon their return home from the quarantine centres. The returnees have been provided with discharge certificates,” Tripathy added.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, during a review meeting, appreciated the role played by the temporary medical camps to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the state.
“The temporary medical camps at the gram panchayat level are doing a great job in containing the spread. About 95 per cent of positive cases are from the quarantine centres. This shows the robustness of our system and the efforts put in by sarpanches, people’s representatives and the entire government machinery. I appreciate each one of you for working day and night in our fight against Covid-19,” said Naveen during the review meeting, undertaken through video-conference.
Regarding the arrival of Shramik special trains from different states, the chief secretary said as many as 109 such trains have come to Odisha till Tuesday noon bringing around 1.53 lakh migrants.
Around 73,000 people have returned to Ganjam by train, the highest so far, followed by 11,000 each to Balasore and Balangir, 7,500 to Kendrapada and 5,600 to Cuttack, informed the chief secretary.