Odisha Govt Urges Bengal Returnees To Voluntarily Come Forward For COVID-19 Testing

Bhubaneswar: Thursday saw a sudden spike in corona cases in Odisha with 15 persons testing for the virus.

While 14 among them were from Jajpur, one cases was detected in Balasore. All these patients have travel history to West Bengal.

Friday saw two more contacts of Kolkata returnees testing positive in Jajpur.

With most cases detected in the past few weeks being linked to Bengal, the Odisha government on Friday urged people, who have returned from the neighbouring state recently, to come forward voluntarily for testing.

In a tweet, the Health and Family Welfare department asked the returnees not to hide. “They may seem healthy, yet could be infected and also spread infection. They are advised to contact local BDO/Tahasildar/Sarpanch and remain isolated at home. Testing is free,” it added.

The state had 61 positive cases on April 18 and it has now increased to 147 with Balangir being added to the COVID-19 map with two patients being detected in the district.

Those in Balangir had recently returned from Tamil Nadu.

However, cases in Bharak (19), Jajpur (38) and Balasore (20) are mostly linked to Bengal. These three districts comprise 52 per cent of the total COVID cases in Odisha.