BHUBANESWAR: The state health authorities are struggling to trace all returnees from at-risk countries to the state to ensure their home quarantine and monitoring even as it has a list of 389 people who returned to the state on or before November 30.
The list of 380 was given by the Centre on basis of Bureau of Immigration data about those who returned by November 29. We got data of nine others who came to the state on Tuesday from other sources. We are trying to gather information about others who may have returned from different sources,” director public health Niranjan Mishra said.
Mishra said the data is being shared with the district administrations to ensure their one-week quarantine as per protocol. The district administrations would test the recent returnees who may have skipped RT-PCR tests before landing in Odisha. The returnees are being asked to show their RT PCR negative reports within 72 hours before they returned to the state. Those who do not have such reports will be put to test immediately. Others will undergo Covid test after seven days’ quarantine or earlier if they develop any symptom. Anyone testing positive will be shifted to an institutional facility. Those testing negative will be asked to self-monitor possible symptoms for the next seven days and undergo test in case of any suspected symptoms, he said.
The health authorities said so far there has been no suspected Covid positive case among the returnees though it’s a daunting task to track all of them. Even in case of people whose data have been shared, phone numbers of many are switched off. In some cases, they have not come back to the address recorded by them with the Bureau of Immigration.The health authorities said like many other states Odisha has been requesting the Centre to give access to Air Suvidha portal, where international travellers give their self-declaration, to track the returnees. Without that, there can’t be comprehensive monitoring, a health department officer said.
Meanwhile, 252 more tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday raising total infections in state 10,49,597. The state currently has 2434 active cases.
Vivid is evil. It is scary illness.
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