Western Odisha has 15 per cent of total Covid-19 cases in state

BHUBANESWAR: The 10 western Odisha districts together so far have reported 618 cases, which is about 15 per cent of the total Covid positive cases-4,338- in the state. The poor western region started reporting cases with trickling of migrants but the infection remained at a remarkable low compared to their counterparts in north, south and coastal Odisha.
The Odisha districts like Balasore, Bhadrak and Jajpur, which share border with or are close to West Bengal saw quick rise in cases but the western districts, particularly Balangir, Nuapada and Kalahandi and Sambalpur which are close to Chhattisgarh didn’t get more infection.
Both Balangir in west and Ganjam in south are homes to migrant population but the dynamics of migration in both the districts differ in scale and nature. While Ganjam, with 699 cases tops the list, Balangir with 147 cases is at 10 spot in terms of total Covid positive cases in the state but tops among western Odisha districts- Sundargarh, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Bargarh, Deogarh, Boudh, Sonepur, Sambalpur and Jharsuguda.
“From Ganjam, people mostly migrate to work in service sectors and they stay in cities. They are skilled and semi-skilled workers. Because of their exposure and nature of jobs, the returnees to Ganjam districts got more infection. But in case of Balangir, the migrants mostly are brick makers, who stay in shanties away from the cities but close to the work place. They don’t have to travel to come to the work site. So, their vulnerability is reduced because they didn’t have to move out,” said researcher Umi Daniel.
He further said the brick making migrants move with their families and they stay in secluded place, but the ones from Ganjam, who work in service sectors are single. “Even in HIV infection data analysis, it was found that Ganjam had highest number of cases, but Balangir is at the fifth spot,” Daniel added.
Gannjam so far has received a little more than two llakh migrants, while Balangir has received 98000 migrants till now.
In west Odisha, Sundargarh is at the second spot with 137 cases and Nuapada, which reported Covid positive case very late (May 23), is placed in third in the list with 78 cases. On the contrary, Kalahandi, which reported a lone case as early as April 4, has so far reported only 58 cases with 29 active. Sonepur district also reported a single case on May 25. After June 6, it had not reported any case and was free from Corona. But on June 14, it reported two cases.
In Coastal districts of Khurda, Cuttack, Jajpur, Puri, Kendrapada, Bhadrak and Jagatsinghpur, there are at present 1656 cases with highest 344 in Khurda. Most of the people from West Bengal had come to these district crossing borders by foot. Some also came in ambulance and hired vehicles.
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