Berhampur: Ganjam district, which was in the news for effective management of first two waves of COVID, has geared up to combat the pandemic in the third wave.
On the direction of collector Vijay Amrit Kulange, the administration has taken several steps for fighting the disease like equipping all the beds of primary health centres (PHC), community health centers (CHC) and others in the district with oxygen, preventing congregation of people in beach resorts, temples and markets, speeding up vaccination and promoting awareness about following COVID guidelines.
Religious places including temples, churches, mosques and others have been closed to visitors from 5 am on January 9 till 5 am on February 1. All the beach resorts in the district including Gopalpur, Sonapur and others have also been closed for the public from January 13 to 17.
The collector said there is no scarcity of oxygen and cylinders and all the hospitals in the district are equipped with beds and oxygen. “We have been trying to achieve cent per cent COVID vaccination. I have asked the block development officers of Khallikote, Rangeilunda, Chikiti, Patrapur and Sanakhemundi to speed up the vaccination drive which has covered 80% of the population. We are also trying to cover cent per cent of target groups for administering booster dose by this week.”
While around 2500 samples are tested through RTPCR and Antigen daily in Ganjam, the collector has urged the grassroot level workers to trace every asymptomatic patient and get them tested.
“The members of the self help groups (SHGs) would visit door to door to take identify the people with cold, fever and cough. The SHG members would also convince the people about the benefits of wearing masks and taking vaccination,” Kulange said.
