Now, Khurda’s turn to give cause for concern
BHUBANESWAR: Khurda is emerging as the next big worry for the state government after Ganjam as 567 cases in July have taken the district’s count to 1423. Till June 8, Jajpur was on the second spot. But Khurda quickly graduated to take the place in terms of total infections, active cases and deaths.
The 567 cases in July include 453 from Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) jurisdiction and 114 from Khurda rural, under Khurda district administration.
On Tuesday, the district added 87 new cases, out of which 51 were reported from the capital city. The district has 471 active cases, second after Ganjam, which has 1856 active cases. Khurda has reported 12 deaths (10 in Bhubaneswar and two in Khurda rural).
Khurda district collector Sitanshu Rout blamed its proximity to Bhubaneswar and said even for small health related problems people go to the capital, and in the process, they have been contracting the virus.
“Also, Khurda has a floating population, especially working class people. Before we sealed the border, many from Ganjam would come here in search of work and that is one of the reasons why cases have gone up. We will get better results in a week’s time as more and more people recover,” Rout explained.
Ganjam has the highest number of cases, 4335, with 188 new infections and 1856 active cases. In July alone, Ganjam added 2821 cases, around 200 on a regular basis.
Ashok Mohapatra, vice-chancellor of SOA University, said now that the borders have been sealed, it will significantly check movement of people and help reduce the spread of virus.
“But along with that the government should also focus on testing all those in institutional quarantine (both symptomatic and asymptomatic) so as to segregate the ones with negative results. Secondly, home isolation should be monitored properly as there are reports of people jumping quarantine and mingling with people,” Mohapatra observed.
Of the 51 cases reported on Tuesday in the capital city, 35 were from quarantine and 16 local cases (not quarantined and suspected to have contracted the virus from primary contact). The city also saw five patients recover, taking the total cured to 361 while active cases went up to 397.