Malkangiri: In another example of COVID-19’s unbridled spread, the remote areas of Odisha, inhabited mostly by the tribals, have come under its grip. Of nine panchayats in Swabhiman Anchal of the district, two have reported positive cases.
As many as 24 persons have tested COVID-19 positive in Jantapai village of Papermetla panchayat and five in Janbai of Badpada panchayat in the erstwhile cut-off and Maoist affected region till Wednesday.
Both the villages have been declared containment zones. The symptomatic patients have been shifted to the COVID Care Centre in Malkangiri and the asymptomatic ones asked to stay in home quarantine, according to a TNIE report.
Malkangiri Collector Manish Agarwal said the administration has adopted a multi-pronged approach to contain the spread of the virus in Swabhimaan Anchal. Active contact tracing is underway in the two villages, he added.
Earlier, five members of Didyai community, a particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG), were found infected during the household survey in Oringi village under Khairput block of the district.
Though no Bonda tribal has tested positive so far, three employees of the Bonda Development Agency in Mudulipada have been infected with Covid-19, the report stated.
