Bhubaneswar: Micro containment zones will be set up in areas that witness a surge in COVID-19 cases, which is a normal practice to contain the spread of the virus, Director Medical Education and Training (DMET) Dr CBK Mohanty said on Thursday.
He was replying to media queries on a housing complex in the posh Forest Park area being brought under containment on Wednesday after around 20 residents were found infected.
“There have been oscillatory fluctuations in the number of cases for a week. The rate of infection has increased a little bit in the capital city in the last two days. In a crowded place, it becomes difficult to maintain social distancing. People, therefore, should avoid crowded places,” he added.
While new COVID cases in Bhubaneswar had spiralled to 240 on September 30, the number has remained below 200 in the month of October so far. The city had seen 111 new infections on Tuesday against 152 on Monday, despite attaining the 100 per cent vaccination target.
Each floor of the three towers of Rajendra Vihar Apartment, ward no-52, in the Forest Park area has COVID cases, a Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said, while elaborating on the reason for bringing it under containment.
Also Read: 20 Test COVID Positive, Apartment In Bhubaneswar Declared Micro Containment Zone
Two weeks ago, the district court office of the endowment commissioner and the bar association was closed for three days and so also the sub-collector and tehsildar offices
Bhubaneswar now has 3372 active cases, which is 65 per cent of Odisha’s caseload.
In view of the festive season, the BMC had capped the number of attendees to weddings and funerals at 50. However, it modified the order allowing guests go to such functions in batches with a maximum of 50 people at the venue at any given point in time. This order is effective only till October 31.
The city will also have an extended night curfew from (8 pm to 5 am instead of 10 pm to 5 am) from October 11 to 20.
