Odisha May Make Masks Mandatory After Centre Writes To 5 States On Spike In COVID Cases

By OB Bureau On Jun 4, 2022

Bhubaneswar: With the Centre issuing an advisory to 5 states, which have witnessed a spike in COVID positive cases, the Odisha government has geared up to take preventive steps to prevent the virus from spreading in the state.

Speaking to media persons in Bhubaneswar on Saturday, Bijay Mohapatra, director, Health Services, said the government may make wearing face masks mandatory for people in public places and intensify surveillance, if the COVID cases rise in the state.

Stating that the government was closely monitoring the daily positive cases in the state, Mohapatra said the preventive measures would come into force as in previous waves of the pandemic, if there is a spike. “The surveillance process is in place and testing facilities are in operational condition. If the positivity cases increase, we will follow the modalities which we have been following since the outbreak of the pandemic in January 2020,” he added.

However, he said there is no reason to panic as positive cases in Odisha are under control so far. The Centre has issued the advisory to the five states as those were reporting a higher contribution to India’s caseload, he added.

Odisha reported 12 new COVID cases in the last 24 hours, while there are 79 active cases at present.

It may be noted that the Central government on Friday advised 5 states to maintain a strict watch and take pre-emptive action, if needed, to control any emerging spread of the infection as the country reported highest number of daily COVID cases in the last three months.

Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary, in a letter to Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra, highlighted that a few states were reporting a higher contribution to India’s caseload, indicating the possibility of a localised spread of the infection.