Odisha govt emphasises on contact tracing for COVID-19

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Health secretary Nikunja Bihari Dhal on Sunday asked all district collectors and municipal commissioners to emphasise on surveillance and contact tracing to contain COVID-19.

“Active surveillance is the foundation of prevention and containment. The updated data that has been received indicates that 2856 persons who have returned from abroad during the last 14 days could not be contacted by District Surveillance teams so far,” said Dhal in a letter.

He said these persons could infect others unless home quarantined.

“They need to be contacted at the earliest to ensure their home quarantine. This task has to be carried out by Collectors and Municipal Commissioners,” said the Health secretary.  

He requested to focus on surveillance and contact tracing.