Bhubaneswar: Exactly a year ago on March 15, 2020, Odisha reported its first Coronavirus case.
Debasis Srichandan, a 33-year-old resident of Bhubaneswar, had tested positive days after he flew in home from Milan, Italy. Debasis has been pursuing his PhD in Machine Learning at University of Milan there.
He was the first COVID-19 hospitalisation in Odisha and was discharged on April 3, 2020.
Following this, Odisha’s patient no. 1 had made plans to resume his research in the university last year. “After my birthday (November 7), I am planning to rejoin work in Italy,” said the computer engineer.
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But with the European country still in lockdown amid a resurgence of COVID-19 cases, Debasis has been stuck in Bhubaneswar ever since,
“Since my release from hospital, I have been at home and studying online. Although the University of Milan has extended the programme due to the pandemic, I want to return soon as my research work is already delayed by one year,” said Debasis.
After completing an MS in Computer Science in the same university, he had enrolled for the PhD programme. But little did he know that the pandemic would stall his plans of completing the programme in a couple of years.
Last week, Italy had reported over 10% rise in cases and the country continues to enforce a strict lockdown.
Notwithstanding the unfavourable conditions, Debasis is hopeful of a breakthrough very soon. He informed that his re-entry visa is done and it’s valid for 90 days from April 1, The New Indian Express reported.
“The Italian government has imposed a nationwide lockdown since the Easter holidays and placed curbs on business and movement. The library and labs are closed. It means if I go to the university now, I will have to do my research activities from home. That is what I have been doing here. Since the vaccination programme is going on full swing there, I hope the curbs would be lifted soon,” he added.
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