2 Hostels Turn COVID Clusters In Odisha; 64 Samples Sent To RMRC-Bhubaneswar For Retesting

Bhubaneswar: Amid the fear of a possible fourth wave, Odisha reported a huge spike of 71 in daily caseload on Sunday with 64 infections being reported from Rayagada alone in the last 24 hours.

This is the highest number of cases reported on a single day in the state, which has been reporting only 8-15 new cases every day for the past one and a half months.

According to official sources, 44 inmates of a hostel named ‘Anwesha’ in Kotlaguda area and 20 girl students of Hatmuniguda government high school in Bissamkatak block have tested positive for the virus.

Informing about the two COVID clusters, Rayagada collector Saroj Kumar Mishra said that these cases were detected during random testing. “Since the students are asymptomatic, the samples are being sent to RMRC, Bhubaneswar, for re-testing,” he said.

The collector said that further steps will be taken on the basis of the RMRC report and once the cases are reconfirmed. “The students are stable and under medical supervision. They are being provided with the required medical treatment,” he added.

District Welfare Officer of Rayagada, Ashok Satpathy had earlier told the media that the rapid response team of the Health Department had conducted an RT-PCR test on 257 tribal inmates on May 4 after reports of sporadic cases of fever. Among them, 44 were found infected.

“All of them are asymptomatic and have been kept in isolation. All precautionary measures are being taken by the authorities to prevent further spread of the virus,” hostel matron Namita Samal said on Saturday. Students of eight English-medium schools in the hostel.

The SC/ST department has asked the district welfare officers to start testing and tracking to check the spread of COVID cases, arrange treatment of both symptomatic and asymptomatic students and isolate those testing positive in all department-run schools and hostels, including the Anwesha hostels.

“There should be 100% health screening of all boarders in residential schools. A school-wise action plan should be prepared by the district welfare officers for conducting health screening of all student boarders by the ANMs of SSD Schools and health check teams of health and family welfare Department,” the department said in a letter.

The district welfare officers have also been asked to arrange masks for all students and teachers and ensure social distancing and other COVID appropriate behaviour.

Notably, Odisha saw a five-fold jump in COVID cases and among the 71, 66 are in the age group of 0-18 years. The state now has 160 active cases.

Also Read: Rayagada Cluster Pushes Up Odisha’s Daily COVID Tally To 71; Check Details