Bhubaneswar: Ganjam had reported nil cases since March 1 when one person had tested positive for COVID-19. March 14 saw six new cases.
Of the fresh cases, four are from Berhampur and one each from Chhatrapur and Chikiti blocks. Five of the six cases are patients at MKCG Medical Colege and Hospital in Berhampur.
Following this, the district administration has appealed to people to strictly adhere to the COVID-19 guidelines.
Ganjam had turned a COVID-19 hotspot when the return of migrants from Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu. The district had reported its first positive case on May 2. The first batch of migrants had returned to Ganjam in four buses from Surat on April 28, and 28 among them were found to have been infected.
Once the migrant inflow stopped by the end of June, the daily caseload fell to 200 in the first two weeks of August from 500 in July. The second week of September saw a further fall in cases with a daily average of 100. The district reported only 43 new cases on October 4.
In November, the rapid antigen test of 3,597 people was found to be negative.
On January 2, the district achieved the zero COVID-19 cases target. There had been fewer cases since then.
Many COVID-19 warriors were also infected.
On Sunday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in a video message appealed to people of Odisha to follow health safety protocols so that the state can achieve ‘zero infection’ target and avoid another lockdown. He requested them not to be complacent with the daily number of new coronavirus cases remaining below 100.
