With 317 COVID-19 cases reported in the Odisha capital in the first 10 days of July, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has found that the rise in the number of coronavirus patients was mainly due to gross violation of social distancing norms, an official said.
The spurt in the number of COVID-19 cases was witnessed after people started coming here from hotspot districts with restrictions being eased and many patients from outside the state capital are being admitted to city hospitals, BMC commissioner P C Chaudhury said.
"A total of 317 cases were reported between July 1 and 10. We found 61 of them were reported in various hospitals and 212 patients have travel history and come in contact with coronavirus patients detected earlier. Others are locals," he said on Saturday.
Overall, 640 COVID-19 cases have been reported in the state capital and 317 of them are active, Chaudhury said. A total of 314 people have recovered from the disease so far, and eight died of it in Bhubaneswar.
"The surge in COVID-19 cases is due to gross violation of health safety and social distancing norms and people coming from hotspot districts," he said. The BMC in association with the Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) had begun serology surveillance.
"It aims at ascertaining the immunological status of the community and high-risk groups in the city," RMRC director Saghamitra Pati said. BMC sources said the surveillance in 25 wards will be completed in two rounds.
Pati said the samples have been collected randomly from different high-risk groups such as healthcare staffers, security personnel, media persons, municipal workers, prisoners, shopkeepers and urban slum dwellers.
Chaudhury said the civic body is taking different measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease. He said a special strategy has been put in place for the slums where about 33 per cent of the Bhubaneswar population lives.
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