Published 06:16 IST, May 9th 2020
Odisha: Gajapati district comes up with COVID-19 testing van to look after 149 villages
Odisha’s Gajapati district administration has developed a mobile COVID-19 testing van that allows health workers to collect samples of suspects from home.
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Odisha’s Gajapati district administration has developed its first mobile COVID-19 testing van that allows medical professionals to collect samples of home, even in the densely-populated regions. This coronavirus testing van consists of testing facility, provision of disinfectant, drinking water, disposal of clinical waste, and a drawer for storing swab samples.
Ensuring social distancing in the mobile van, only three people can be accommodated inside the vehicles at a time. The residents of all 149 Gram Panchayat of Gajapati will be tested with the help of this van. It was developed by District Magistrate Anupam Saha, in collaboration with National Health Mission and the ICMR.
This testing van will not only screen the locals for COVID-19 but also scores of migrants who are stranded at the Andhra Pradesh border.
"Many people are stranded at Andhra Pradesh borders. The process of bringing them back to the state has been started. We have created 180 medical centers across the district for the COVID-19 patients. We have developed a van from which we will examine them for the lethal infection. Locals too would have to go under screening for the coronavirus. They will be informed a few days before about the Van timings," Anupam Saha told ANI.
Odisha’s COVID-19 tally jumps to 270 as migrants return to the state
Odisha on Friday, May 8 reported the biggest single-day spike in coronavirus cases with 51 people testing positive for COVID-19, a majority of whom returned from Gujarat, taking the total tally in the state to 270, the health department said.
Of the fresh cases, 50 had returned from Surat in Gujarat while one came from Kerala; 43 of the new cases were reported from Ganjam whose tally has now climbed to 71, the highest in the state. Five were from Kendrapara and three from Bhadrak. Another person, who tested positive in Bhubaneswar, is counted as a patient of Maharashtra. He is a truck driver from Mumbai who met with a road accident in Odisha, the government said in a statement.
The number of active cases in Odisha now stands at 205 with the recovery of 63 patients. Two persons from Bhubaneswar have died of the infection while 298 people are in hospital isolation.
(With inputs from agencies; Image credits: ANI)
06:15 IST, May 9th 2020