Covid awareness week to be observed in Odisha’s Ganjam district from today

Amid the surge of Covid-19 cases in Odisha, an official said the Ganjam district administration has decided to abserve a Covid awareness week starting from Thursday in an attempt to make people aware of the importance of social distancing and wearing a mask.

Ganjam district logged 71 fresh Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, which pushed the overall tally to 19,781.

Drives on mask distribution, sanitation, identification of plasma donors will also be conducted during the week.

District collector V A Kulange said door-to-door screenings to identify suspected virus patients, ramping up of Covid-19 tests, awareness rallies will be organised at panchayat level adding that social distancing and Covid awareness chariots will move across the Ganjam district during the week.

Kulange pointed out the awareness week is necessary as different activities have commenced under the provisions of Unlock 4. He also said it is noticed that people are not following the regulations, which pose a threat to the Covid-19 situation of the state.

“Apart from these, we have also planned to organize health and nutrition webinars, an online competition for school children, the district collector added.

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Kulange has directed all block development officers and tehasildars to observe the week at the block level. “The battle is still continuing and we will have to fight till the end,” he said.

Odisha, along with states such as Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Delhi, continues to be a worse-hit state by the pandemic. According to the Union health ministry’s dashboard, Odisha has registered over 192,000 Covid-19 cases till now, which include 34, 547 active cases, 157,265 recoveries/discharges and 736 deaths.

On Tuesday, the Naveen Patnaik-led government directed all hospitals in the state to set up 24×7 dedicated helpdesks to assist family members of Covid-19 patients with regard to the health status of the patients.

The health department in a fresh guideline has said that the helpdesk should consist of a dedicated toll-free number with notifications.

(With PTI inputs)

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