Bhubaneswar: Odisha is facing the same situation as major COVID-19-hit states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, New Delhi and Tamil Nadu were facing two months ago. Over 4.5 lakh migrant people have returned to the state as the government facilitated their hassle-free transportation.
Now, about 15,000 to 20,000 people are coming out of quarantine every day. In next 10 to 12 days, quarantine of almost all migrant people will be completed. Southwest monsoon is likely to hit Odisha in next two weeks. As chances of COVID-19 spread during monsoon are very high, next 21 days is very important for the state, Private Secretary to Chief Minister—VK Pandian said.
While interacting with the editors of various media houses at Kharavela Bhawan here, Pandian said Odisha will succeed in managing the virus, if people strictly follow the norms and stay in homes over next 21 days.
Over next three weeks, everybody should stay home at least for 10 hours a day, he said. Nothing will happen if people don’t roam outside during weekends. Whole world will remember the state if people can follow the rules. Odisha has created a separate identity in cyclone management. By the same token, all should bear a little pain to make Odisha number one state in COVID-19 management as well, the senior IAS officer said.
Stating that the whole world is fighting with an invisible enemy, Pandian said the enemy is so clever that no one is able to understand it. It is a tough task to tackle the pandemic. About 12 lakh migrant workers have registered to return to the state of which 4.5 lakh have returned, he said, adding, maximum people have returned from states having high mortality rate. Some more people will return over next one or two days. The returning flow has also decreased from places like Surat.
When the situation worsened there, they returned to Odisha. It was learnt that 15-20 people were kept in a single room in states where they have migrated for work. When they were infected with the virus, they were sent back here, he pointed out. About 95 per cent of positive cases in the state have come from quarantine centres. Therefore, the government is giving maximum emphasis on the treatment of infected persons, he added.
According to data available with the state government, Odisha took 37 days to reach 2000th case while Gujarat took only 18 days to report 2000th case, 19 days in Delhi, 21 days in Maharashtra, 23 days in Rajasthan & Madhya Pradesh, 28 days in Tamil Nadu.
Odisha has remained in top three states in COVID-19 testing rate. The state has conducted 15,56,90 tests when it has reported 2000th case. The figure is way less in many states. While Odisha is conducting 3,385 tests per million people, it is 1355 in Delhi, 1323 in Tamil Nadu, 931 in Rajasthan, 551 in Gujarat, 502 in Bihar, 481 in WB, 461 in MP and 337 in Maharashtra.