Complete shutdown in 9 urban areas of Odisha's Ganjam district till July 21
The Ganjam district administration has declared complete shutdown in at least nine urban areas of the district till July 21 in a bid to check further spread of COVID-19 cases, an official said on Wednesday. While the shutdown has already commenced in areas under Hinjili Municipality and Ganjam Notified Area Council (NAC) from Tuesday, the restrictions will come into force in other seven NAC from Thursday, the official said.
The areas where the shutdown will be in force are the district headquarter town of Chhatrapur, Rambha, Khallikote, Polasara, Kodala, Kabisurya Nagar and Purushottampur, he said.
Earlier the district administration had imposed a five-day shutdown in all 18 urban areas in the district including Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) from July 9 to 13 to conduct health screening of the people.
District Collector Vijaya Amruta Kulange had earlier said that the administration would observe the behaviour of the people in maintaining social distancing guidelines before imposition of the further shutdown.
The district administration has decided to impose further shutdown in these nine towns to contain the spread of the coronavirus. "After reviewing the active cases, containment zones and supply chain of the essential commodities, we decided to impose further shutdown in these towns," said sub-collector of Chhatrapur, Priyaranjan Prusty.
Essential and emergency services like medical, police, fire, telecom, sanitation work would not be restricted during the shutdown and transport to and from hospital will be allowed. During the shutdown period, the people have been advised to remain homes.
The number of COVID-19 cases in the district increased to 4,621 on Wednesday following detection of 286 new patients, the second highest single day spike in the district.
Of the total fresh cases, 34 were Covid warriors, while three cases have travel history. Other 249 persons have been infected due to the active contact with positive persons, sources said.
Meanwhile, Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) on Wednesday launched special fever clinics in all of its eight urban public health centers (UPHC) located in its jurisdiction for treatment of people with flu and influenza. These clinics will function for four hours in the day from 8 am to 12 noon.
The fever clinics will help people suffering from influenza like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI), said BeMC commissioner Chakravarti Singh Rathore. If Covid symptoms are found in any person, the doctors will refer the patients for the Covid test, he said.
