Odisha : 7 new COVID-19 cases, West-Bengal link raises worry

Bhubaneswar:  The West Bengal returnees have become a major headache for Odisha as majority of the new COVID19 cases have West Bengal links.

Odisha on Tuesday reported 7 new cases and out of the 7 cases, 3 had travel history to West Bengal. Two of them hail from Basudevpur block and one from Bonth block of Bhadrak.

While Khurda district, the worst affected district in Odisha, has not reported any new case for last 12 days, most of the new cases are being reported from districts like Bhadrak, jajpur, Balasore.

These three districts have reported total 54 cases and most of these patients have either travel history to West Bengal or came in contact with the returnees.

Yesterday, the Koraput district had reported its maiden COVID19 case and this patient had also travel history to Kolkata.

What makes the situation worrisome is the fact that most of the West Bengal returnees have come to Odisha after the enforcement of the lockdown. According to reports several hundred persons returned from West Bengal are still untraceable. The authorities have trying to trace them through mobile phone tracking.

With seven fresh  cases, Odisha’s total number of cases has increased to 118, which include 80 active cases, one deceased and 37 recoveries.

On the other hand, west Bengal has reported 568 cases so far.