Focus On Community Monitoring Of COVID Management, Odisha Govt Tells Collectors, SPs

Bhubaneswar:  The Odisha government on Wednesday directed the district collectors and SPs to focus on community surveillance and monitoring of COVID-19.

Presiding over a high-level review meeting via video conferencing at the Lok Seva Bhawan, Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy said that the month of June was very crucial. Since over 4.5 lakh people have returned to the state from different parts of the country and many have been discharged from institutional quarantine, there was a need to keep strict vigil and enforce the laws.

The chief secretary directed the collectors to form ward-level monitoring committees and strengthen community surveillance as active participation of the community can help check the spike in COVID-19 cases and contain spread of the infection.

He also told them to scrupulously follow the quarantine protocols and intensify the information, education and communication (IEC) campaign at all levels.

“The people should be convinced not to confuse the relaxation for livelihood as relaxation in ‘social distancing’ and the ‘social distancing’ norms must be enforced strictly,” he pointed out.

Present in the meeting, Director General of Police Abhaya directed the SPs to focus on wearing of masks, weekend shutdown in eleven districts, evening and night curfew, regulation of marriages and funerals and social distancing with its original zeal. He also asked them to focus on places and institutions and strictly restrain people from loitering outside.

The additional chief secretary and SRC Pradeep Kumar Jena asked the collectors to ensure the quality of management in the temporary medical centre (TMC) and quarantine centres as per the standard operating procedure, issue proper discharge certificates to the returnees on their discharge from the quarantine centres to facilitate their acceptance in the community.

Twin City Police Commissioner Sudhanshu Sarangi, IT and special secretary, Commerce and Transport, Manoj Mishra and BMC Commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhary attended the video conferencing.