BMC Ramps Up COVID Testing At Educational Institutions In Odisha Capital

Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has ramped up COVID-19 testing in educational institutions, especially schools that reopened recently for offline classes.

The increased testing comes following directions from Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Singh amid the global Omicron scare.

In North Zone, testing camps were organised at Ashram School, Rasulgarh, Ashram School, Nayapalli, Prabhuji English Medium School, Institute of Hotel Management, VSS Nagar, Jaydev College, Nahar Kanta, Biju Patnaik College, Jayadev Vihar, GGP Colony High School, VSS Nagar High School, among others.

Camps are being held at RD Women’s University, Maharshi College of Natural Law, Unit-IX Boy’s School, Badagada High School and Capital High School, among others.

Likewise, the civic body is conducting camps at DAV School, Unit-8, IRC Village High School, Saraswati Sishu Mandir, Nayapalli (Ward-23), Tapoban High School, Paika Nagar High School near Delta Square under South-West Zone. Till Wednesday, about 1,500 tests had been conducted in each zone.

This apart, random testing is being carried out in tribal hostels, private offices, markets and apartments etc.

A testing kiosk was put up at Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) last week for helping passengers with travel history to ‘at risk’ countries for the Omicron variant to undergo on-the-spot testing.