Enforcement Of COVID Norms Tightened In Sundargarh After District Reports 2nd Highest Cases In Odisha

Rourkela: With Sundargarh district bracketed in top three districts having high CVID infection cases in the state in the third wave of the pandemic, the local administration has geared up to strictly enforce the restrictions to prevent the virus from spreading.

According to I & PR department, of total 3679 COVID cases reported in the state, Sundargarh district accounted for second highest 582 cases after 1223 infected persons in Khurda on Saturday. Sundargarh and Sambalpur district in western Odisha have been witnessing steady increase in positive cases for the last few days.

Keeping this in view, the district administration has started the drive to enforce COVID guidelines. It has deployed police to carry out detection of violators of the state government prescribed norms like wearing masks and maintaining social distance in public places in two major urban areas of the district – Rourkela and Sundargarh. The police are also imposing high penalty on the violators.

The enforcement drive has also been tightened in border areas like Birmitrapur and Telijor with strict vigil on visitors coming from Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

The Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) has started sanitisation drives in different areas of the city. It has formed five teams to enforce the guidelines and impose penalty on the violators of COVID protocols, said RMC deputy commissioner Sudhanshu Bhoi.

“We have begun sanitising public places while the rapid response teams are attending to the positive persons. The teams are sensitising people about home isolation. We will also start distributing medicines to the infected patients soon,” Bhoi told a local TV channel.