Bhubaneswar: Taking cognisance of spike in Covid-19 cases, mostly from hospitals and one industrial unit, the civic authority here Friday issued fresh advisories and imposed restrictions on engagement of workers from outside the state till July 31. Speaking to media, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner, Prem Chandra Chaudhary, said recently an industrial organisation had sourced labourers from outside Odisha of whom 34 were tested positive for the killer virus.
“In view of public safety and to contain the spread of novel coronavirus, it is ordered that any business organisation like industrial, construction, hotels/hospitality, contractors (both government and private) shall not bring any worker/ labourer from outside the state to BMC area till July 31, 2020,” said a BMC notification issued by the Commissioner.
However, no restriction was imposed on bringing workers from within the state albeit with quarantine norms. “All the industrial establishments and others have been asked to engage locally available workers/labourers. If any organisation has already brought workers from outside the state, they need to put their workers in 14-day quarantine. The business owners will have to conduct Covid-19 test of the workers at their own cost if anyone of them develops symptoms and inform the test result to BMC,” Chaudhary said.
The BMC officials further advised industrial units to not bring workers from Covid hotspot districts like Ganjam, Gajapati, Balasore, Cuttack and Jajpur. The establishments should rather opt for workforce from non-hotspot districts till further orders, BMC officials said in a statement.
Norms for OPD and IPD cases
Meanwhile, the BMC also issued fresh advisory for hospitals in Bhubaneswar suggesting isolation of patients coming to Outpatient Department (OPD) and Inpatient Department (IPD) from various hotspot districts.
Issuing an SOP for the OPD and IPD cases, the BMC strongly recommended triaging of patients at entrance and not allowing them to mix with other patients or attendants. Patients who are under testing will inquire for adequate accommodation arrangement for isolation and if any such shortage the government quarantine will be provided.
“The hospitals should segregate patients coming from hotspot districts and keep all their details. If any person has symptoms, he/she will be tested and if they have accommodation facility in Bhubaneswar where they can stay in isolation till declaration of the test results. It will be the concerned hospital’s responsibility to contact the nodal officer of BMC and take them to institutional quarantine facility,” Chaudhary said.
It is pertinent to mention here that there has been a spurt in COVID-19 cases reported from Bhubaneswar in the past few days. Of the 26 new COVID-19 cases reported from Khurda district in the last 24 hours, 24 are from Bhubaneswar.