How the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded in Odisha

It took 114 days for Odisha to register its first 10,000 cases. The next 10,000 cases came in just 15 days, indicating the rapid spread of the infection.

Till mid-May, Odisha government kept patting its back for successfully containing the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. Calling itself a model state, chief secretary Asit Tripathy claimed that Odisha excelled while states like Delhi and Gujarat struggled to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease.

BPL (below poverty line) cardholder wait in the queue while maintaining social distance to collect their ration, at a PDS distribution centre, in Bhubaneswar.(ANI File Photo)

Two months later, the tables have turned with Odisha’s daily Covid-19 numbers outstripping both Gujarat and Delhi - the two states that were counted as hotspots initially. On July 25, Odisha reported 1,320 cases while Delhi reported 1,025 cases and Gujarat 1,081 cases. The daily sample positivity rate that hovered around 3.6 in mid-May has now climbed to over 10 while local cases account for about one third of the total cases.

A Bhubaneswar student studying in Italy was diagnosed as the first Covid-19 positive case of the state on March 15. It took 114 days for Odisha to register its first 10,000 cases (on July 7). The next 10,000 cases came in just 15 days, indicating the rapid spread of the infection. In July alone, the state has recorded 105 new deaths, up from 25, even as the state government announced complete lockdown in four hotspot districts including Ganjam and Khurda.

Here is a look at how the Covid-19 pandemic has unfolded in Odisha:

Return of migrant workers

Odisha did well to start a dedicated Covid-19 helpline before the nationwide lockdown was announced. In March, it launched a dedicated website, making it mandatory for all visitors of the state to register on the portal and announced an incentive of Rs 15,000 for those completing 14-day quarantine after return from abroad. It was the mass influx of eight lakh migrant workers to Ganjam and several other districts that slowly led to the spread of the virus. Ganjam alone saw influx of four lakh such workers. In Balangir, the district labour officer had prepared 28,000 beds at various quarantine centres, but 1.5 lakh people arrived in the district from other states. Though a large majority of the migrant workers religiously followed the government order on staying in quarantine centres, several others jumped quarantine and mingled with the villagers. Hundreds of migrant workers coming from Covid-19 hotspot states slipped away to their villages spreading the pandemic in rural Odisha.

Lack of adequate testing

In testing too, Odisha started early setting up eight labs in the month of April and May. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik later announced that the number of daily tests would be scaled up to 15,000 by June. However, the government did not scale up testing and the numbers kept swinging between 3,000 and 5,000 for most days of June even as the virus transmission happened on ground unchecked. In the quarantine centres, not everyone was tested even though they had arrived from Covid-19 hotspots. It was only in July when the cases started rising that the government raised the daily testing numbers to 5,000 and more. In the last three days, the tests have gone beyond 10,000 a day. On Friday, the state tested 12,733 samples, its highest so far. “The state should have done aggressive testing from the day migrant workers arrived. Many of the migrant workers may have been asymptomatic and RT-PCR test would have confirmed the absence or presence of the virus. The delay may have proved costly,” said Dr TM Mohapatra, renowned microbiologist and former director of Institute of Medical Sciences of Banaras Hindu University, who advises ICMR.

Management of quarantine centres

To manage the quarantine centres, Odisha entrusted the sarpanch in each of the gram (village) panchayat and gave them the powers of district collectors. But weeks later, the plan unravelled as several district collectors did not consult the sarpanch. The state government later bypassed the sarpanch asking the sub-collector, and block development officers (BDOs) to monitor the quality of food, cleaning, light arrangement and overall smooth functioning of the centres. A sarpanch in Jagatsinghpur district spent around Rs four lakh on food, drinking water facilities, sanitation and other facilities allegedly from his own pocket as the BDO refused to sanction funds. With food quality as well as overall management in several quarantine centres not measuring up, chaos prevailed in several such centres. In several such places of Ganjam, migrant workers jumped quarantine that has now led to rising infection in the district over the last one month. The Rs 2,000 cash incentive that the government had announced for each of the persons completing the quarantine period, is yet to be given to hundreds of villagers.

Rising infection among corona warriors

The mainstay of the government’s fight against the pandemic, an estimated 800-900 anganwadi workers and ASHA workers have been infected while conducting door-to-door surveillance and managing the quarantine centres over the last two months. An additional district magistrate of Gajapati district, who was in charge of Covid-19 hospitals, himself succumbed to the pandemic even though his swab tests came negative. Hundreds of school teachers who managed the quarantine centres too have been infected with the government not been able to minimise the interaction among the migrant workers/infected people and the Covid-19 warriors. More than 100 policemen on duty also tested positive which led to shutting down of three police stations.

Lack of social distancing and masks

Odisha was among the first states to make masks and social distancing mandatory and even introduced penalty for those violating it. Yet, till last week, the police had collected more than Rs 5 crore as penalty from people flouting social distancing and masks. In Ganjam, a Covid-19 hotspot, a hotel owner organised the marriage of his son. The wedding party at a star hotel on Gopalpur sea beach saw 500 people in attendance throwing social distancing norms to the winds. A naib sarpanch in the same district was arrested this for conducting a religious function in gross violation of Covid-19 regulations. Despite penalty and pleadings by chief minister and celebrities, there have been numerous violations regarding wearing of masks and following social distancing norms which have led to spike in cases. Though the state government has resorted to weekend shutdown and lockdowns, it has not been able to follow up on its success by doing strict containment measures.

Rising infection in hospitals

Four major hospitals of the state including AIIMS Bhubaneswar, VIMSAR in Burla, The Regional Cancer centre at Cuttack, MKCG medical college and hospital in Berhampur town and Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar shut down their OPDs as more than 200 doctors, nurses and patients were infected last month. In these hospitals the standard operating procedures of treating patients were not followed while doctors did not get the necessary PPE suits and masks. Before the pandemic began, the state’s health infrastructure was woefully inadequate to deal with the existing health issues. With the OPDs shut, it has been a nightmarish situation for patients in the state where the doctor and patient ratio is a staggering 1:7339.

Lack of transparency in Covid-19 procurement

The procurement exercise of PPE suits, masks, sanitisers as well as setting up of Covid-19 hospitals was mired in controversy with the government not caring about making the process transparent. A senior IAS officer boasted about getting a blank cheque in procurement till he was shunted out. There was allegation of purchase of triple-layered masks, RT-PCR machines, testing kits at prices higher than what was available in market.

Lack of involvement of political leaders and civil society

In a crisis, when the role of political leaders in motivating the people to adhering to Covid-19 guidelines including social distance and wearing masks is important, the politicians were largely absent from the scene for about four months starting from lockdown and influx of migrant workers. The civil society too was not involved in mitigating the crisis of migrant workers’ return. As bureaucrat-driven Covid-19 management started coming apart by mid-July, BJD MLA Pradeep Panigrahi early this month wrote to chief minister Patnaik to involve the MLAs, ministers and panchayati raj institution members in Covid-19 management. Finally, Patnaik has now asked his ministers to organise donation drive of blood plasma of people who have recovered from Covid-19.