Villages in Odisha hit by superspreaders

BHUBANESWAR: As the total number of Covid-19 cases crossed 10,000 in Odisha on Tuesday with sample positivity rate going past 10, the role of super-spreaders has the state government concerned.

On Tuesday, Sundargarh district reported 51 cases, of which 49 were infected by a 66-year-old auto driver who had returned from Jharkhand last month. Officials said the man, who had arrived on June 16, met several people before he died on June 3.

However, they did not share details as to how a man, who should have been in home quarantine, went around meeting people.

In Bargarh, a 76-year-old retired teacher who was a money lender turned his village Katapali into a hot spot. He died of Covid-19 on June 18, and had infected 105 persons by then.

Like Katapali, in the southern district of Rayagada, a threemember family of migrant workers that returned from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu last month ended up infecting at least 90 people. The family -- a man, his wife and daughter - had returned to Bijaypur and had stayed in institutional-quarantine for 14 days. During their seven-day home quarantine, the family allegedly flouted the prescribed norms and met several people. “Rayagada did not have any Covid cases for a long time, and then it had 90,” said district collector Pramod Kumar Behera.

In Hatisalapada village of Bolangir, at least 39 positive cases have been detected so far after a couple of migrant workers flouted home quarantine guidelines. “We were forced to declare the area a containment zone,” said Bolangir district collector Arindam Dakua.

In western Odisha district of Jharsuguda district, a family returning from Gurugram infected 17 persons by partying and turned the Brajarajnagar OMP area into a hot spot, said district collector Saroj Samal.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik said Odisha would follow a decentralised Covid-management strategy based on the suggestions received from district collectors, SPs and others.