COVID-19 Alert: 2856 People Who Returned To Odisha From Foreign Countries Untraceable!

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has not been able to track 2856 people, who had landed in the state from different airports in the last 14 days.

This despite the fact that Odisha has a dedicated portal for registering people returning from abroad.

Among the 2856 foreign returnees, 400 are from Bhubaneswar, 450 other parts of Khurda district, 650 from Ganjam, 300 from Cuttack and another 155 from Puri district, according to details generated from the ports of entry they used.

These people, however, have neither registered with the state portal nor made any call to the helpline number 104.

This has come to the fore in the letter of Health Secretary Nikunja Bihari Dhal to Collectors and Municipal Commissioners, urging them to speed-up surveillance and contact tracing of those who have returned from abroad and COVID-19 affected states.

Expressing concern that returnees could infect others unless quarantined, Dhal has directed the official to contact them at the earliest and ensure isolation.