Odisha makes 7-day home isolation mandatory for visitors from 12 states

The Odisha government on Friday made 7-day home isolation mandatory for people coming from 12 high-risk states by planes and trains

The Odisha government on Friday made seven-day home isolation mandatory for people coming from 12 high-risk states by planes and trains, as 94 new cases, the highest in the last few days, pushed the state's caseload to 3,37,018, a senior health official said.

Odisha has increased surveillance and testing, and imposed the restrictions on people coming from Maharashtra, Kerala, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Punjab, Delhi, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Asking all district collectors, municipal commissioners, directors of Bhubaneswar and Jharsuguda airports and the general manager (operation) of East Coast Railways to take precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the state, Health Department Additional Chief Secretary P K Mohapatra, in a letter, said, "All the incoming passengers will remain under mandatory home isolation for seven days."

If they develop symptoms during the isolation period, they will undergo RT-PCR tests. If they test positive for the infection, they will be treated as per the COVID treatment protocol, he said.

Noting that passengers from the 12 states must be screened at airports or railway stations, Mohapatra said, "All measures to be followed strictly in view of surge in COVID-19 cases. Any laxity can result in a resurgence of the pandemic in our state and ruin all our efforts over the past months."

Wearing of masks and adhering to social distancing norms have to be strictly enforced, he said.

Also, a campaign has to be launched to make people aware of the situation, the official said.

Meanwhile, the Centre permitted vaccination of elderly persons and those with comorbidities at 183 private hospitals in the state that are empanelled under the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) in Odisha. The inoculation drive will begin on March 1.

All beneficiaries have been advised to carry at least one photo ID document such as Aadhaar card.

The state's coronavirus death toll remained unchanged at 1,915 as no fresh fatality was reported in the last 24 hours. Fifty-three COVID-19 patients have died in the state so far due to comorbidities, he said

Fifty-six new cases were reported in quarantine centres, while 38 fresh infections were detected during contact tracing, he said.

Sambalpur district reported the highest number of new cases at 17, followed by Bargarh (10).

The state is witnessing a rise in new COVID-19 cases. It had reported 89 cases on Thursday, 68 on Wednesday and 62 on Tuesday.

Dhenkanal is the only district in the state which does not have any active coronavirus case.

The state now has 587 active cases, while 63 more recoveries pushed the state's recovery count to 3,34,463.

Odisha has so far tested over 82.77 lakh samples for COVID-19, including 22,632 on Thursday.