Bhubaneswar: Chief spokesperson of the Odisha government on COVID-19 Subroto Bagchi on Monday said that 24 of the total 74 people, who tested positive for the virus in the state, had either travelled to West Bengal or came in contact with those who had returned from the neighboruing state.
“In the last 24 hours, five COVID-19 patients each were detected in Bhadrak and Jajpur districts and they had a travel history to West Bengal,” he said.
He said that all people, who had travelled to West Bengal in the last 28 days, have been asked to undergo mandatory institutional quarantine and panchayats have been directed to ensure that the returnees adhere to it.
Bagchi said that the state government’s decision to delegated collector power to sarpanchs of gram panchayats assume significance against this backdrop. “If our villages are safe, our cities will be safe and so will be the state,” he said.
On Sunday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik gave sarpanchs the powers of district collectors to aid the fight against COVID-19 and enforce quarantine in their villages.
The CM has also offered migrant workers an incentive of Rs 2000 to stay put in quarantine for 14 days.
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