Ganjam emerges hotspot as Covid-19 cases rise in Odisha

Bhubaneswar, May 8: The number of Covid-19 cases in Odisha increased to 270 with over 50 positive cases reported on Friday, said a health official. Ganjam district, which reported 43 of these cases, has emerged as top Covid-19 hotspot of the state. Kendrapara and Bhadrak registered five and three positive cases, respectively. Out of 43 cases in Ganjam, 42 persons returned from Gujarat's Surat while one came back from Kerala, said the health official. With this, the positive cases in Ganjam district rose to 71 - the highest in the state. The sudden spike in cases resulted after the migrants started returning home. The number of active cases stand at 205 while 63 persons have already recovered. Two have died of the disease. The state government has deployed three IAS officers - P. Anvesha Reddy, Patil Ashish Ishwar and Hema Kanta Say -- in Ganjam for a period of one month to cooperate with the district administration in Covid-19 management. So far, 46,383 Odias have returned to Odisha, with 6,618 returning on Friday. A total of 13,685 temporary medical centres have been readied in 6,798 Gram Panchayats of the state. In all these centres, total of 5,48,161 beds have been arranged to provide Covid-19 health services in rural areas. Meanwhile, a 40-year-old migrant worker was found dead in a quarantine centre in Ganjam on Friday. The deceased was in a quarantine centre set up at Dhunkapada high school in Polasara block since Tuesday. He had returned from Surat in a special train on May 6, said an official. However, the exact reason of the death is yet to be known. (IANS)