Odisha CM Asks Officials To Gear Up, Keep COVID Hospitals Ready In 10 Days

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday directed the officials concerned to keep all the government and private hospitals in the next 10 days.

The Chief Minister stated this during a virtual review meeting on COVID-19 situation in the state this evening amid the concern over peak of second wave.

As per a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), Naveen said the number of general and ICU beds at COVID hospitals should be kept ready like the measures taken during the second wave.

He directed the officials to enforce necessary COVID restrictions strictly, achieve COVID vaccination target and give priority to inoculation of those in the 15-18 age group. He, however, asked the officials to ensure that the sources of livelihood of people are not affected by the stringent measures to be put in place.

Seeking the cooperation of people, Naveen appealed them to be vigilant and abide by all the rules and regulations to cooperate with the officials in charge of campaigns and medical needs.

It may be noted that the state witnessed a sudden spike in daily COVID cases on Tuesday. The daily COVID caseload went up to 680 cases on Tuesday compared to 424 on Monday with Khurda district accounting for 263 new patients. Sundargarh and Sambalpur also reported a surge with 69 and 42 cases respectively.

Among others, Chief Secretary SC Mahapatra; Additional Chief Secretary of Health and Family Welfare Department, RK Sharma; DGP Sunil Bansal, 5T Secretary VK Pandian and senior officials were present in the meeting.