Bhubaneswar: The state government has admitted that 2,586 persons who returned from foreign countries to Odisha in the last 14 days are not traceable by the district surveillance committees and could be carriers of COVID-19.
State Health Secretary Nikunja Bihari Dhal, in a letter to the district Collectors, said that the district surveillance committees need to follow up with those who returned to the state from abroad recently and put them under scrutiny.
He wrote, “The updated data that has been received indicates that 2,856 persons who have returned from abroad during the last 14 days could not be contacted by district surveillance teams so far. These persons could infect others unless home quarantined.”
The official said that they need to be contacted at the earliest to ensure that they are home quarantined and added that the task has to be carried out by Collectors and Municipal Commissioners. “You are requested to focus on surveillance and contact tracing. You must personally review the three important focus areas from the perspective prevention and control of the disease,” Dhal said.
Few days back, the government had made registration of abroad returnees mandatory and legally binding for all those who entered Odisha after March 3. While several registered with the government through government portal and 104 helpline, many are now not traceable as the government is unable to contact them. The registered travellers were asked to submit their address and contact numbers during the registration.
In his communication to the Collectors, Dhal said, “COVID-19 pandemic has created a huge public crisis and poses a big challenge to all of us. In view of the evolving situation of COVID-19 in India, the two most important pillars of our containment strategy are active surveillance of people who have returned from COVID affected areas (abroad and other states) and quarantine of all such people irrespective of symptoms.’
He also added that risk-based testing, isolation of confirmed cases and contact tracing and quarantine of contacts of confirmed cases irrespective of symptoms are two other factors that are needed to mitigate the disease consequences.