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Covid-19: Odisha makes registration mandatory for people coming from abroad
Odisha on Monday made it mandatory for people coming to the state from abroad to register themselves at a toll free number or an online portal within 24 hours of their arrival as part of the government’s efforts to check the spread of coronavirus. The announcement after the state reported its first positive case of Covid-19 late Sunday night.
Odisha on Monday made it mandatory for people coming to the state from abroad to register themselves at a toll free number or an online portal within 24 hours of their arrival as part of the government’s efforts to check the spread of coronavirus.
The announcement after the state reported its first positive case of Covid-19 late Sunday night.
“Anyone who comes to Odisha from abroad has to register himself/herself mandatorily in the toll free number 104 or the online portal https://covid19.odisha.gov.in. This should be done within 24 hours of arrival with basic details and phone numbers. However advance registration before arrival will be highly preferable,” chief secretary Asit Tripathy said.
They will be required to be in home quarantine for 14 days and after they complete the quarantine period they will be given an incentive of ₹15,000 for registration and home isolation, Tripathy said.
A 31-year-old youth from Odisha who was studying computer science in Italy had tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday, 10 days after he arrived in India. In the last 3 days of his stay in Bhubaneswar, he came in contact with 53 people while another 76 people travelled along with him in the coach of the New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express. The 53 people who came in contact with the youth have been advised home quarantine while officials are trying to get in touch with 76 who travelled with him in the Rajdhani Express.
The government sanctioned an amount of Rs.225 crore from the State Disaster Response Fund to fight coronavirus. The fund will be utilized for measures like quarantine, screening, including provision for temporary accommodation, food, medical care of people in quarantine facilities, setting up of additional testing labs and procurement of essential equipment.
The chief secretary said the location of those who are quarantined will be tracked and mandated number of calls will be made every day to keep a close watch and give appropriate medical guidance. However, to trace and track persons who have already entered the state on or after March 4, a 48-hour period from 6 am of March 17 to 6 am of March 19 has been allowed for them to register themselves. Registrations can be done by the passengers or relatives or friends.
Anyone not complying the same will be punished under the provisions of Indian Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code, he said. This regulation will be in force till April 15 and could be extended based on the situation, he said.
In Bhubaneswar, all private tutorials and open air gyms will be shut down from Tuesday while bypolls to two Zilla Parishad Member seats, 6 sarpanches, 8 samiti members and 84 ward members scheduled for March 24 have been postponed.
Top tourist and religious sites in Odisha, including the Sun Temple in Konark, Chilika lake and Shanti Stupa (peace pagoda) at Dhauli, have already been closed down for visitors as a precautionary measure. Similar restrictions have been imposed at the Jagannath temple in Puri with temple priests wearing masks inside the premises while serving the three deities and maintaining a distance of at least two metres from devotees.
Prohibitory orders have been promulgated in at least five Odisha districts including Ganjam where the famous Danda Jatra was scheduled this month. Teachers and other employees of educational institutions under the state higher education department have been asked not to come to institutions unless they have examination or evaluation duty.
In Ganjam district, all the shopping malls, vehicle showrooms, garages, cloth stores, beauty parlours, fast food vendors, restaurants, cafeteria and betel shops have been asked to remain shut till further orders.
At least 141 people have been quarantined by the state government so far which includes the 53 people who came in contact with the first Covid-19 positive person from Italy.
People can call at the toll-free number and inform about coronavirus patients and seek information about the disease. There are 15 doctors manning the 104 helpline to educate people about the virus.
Odisha has about 7500 government doctors who have been trained to deal with coronavirus.
National Health Mission director Shalini Pandit said all health officials right up to those at primary health centres are working towards controlling the spread of the virus. “Any doctor who is an MBBS and working in government hospital is equipped to fight against the coronavirus outbreak,” said Pandit. She added that the panchayatiraj functionaries would spread awareness about the disease and the importance of home isolation through meetings in respective gram panchayats.
The government plans to use Kalyan Mandaps, community centres, cyclone shelters, shelter for urban homeless or any other buildings of any department with sufficient lights, fans with power back-up and continuous water supply facility as quarantine facilities, officials said.
So far, Odisha has sent samples of 32 people for test of which, one tested positive, 26 negative and results of 5 are awaited. The samples are being tested at RMRC, Bhubaneswar.
