Odisha Chief Minister has announced schools and colleges will remain shut till Puja vacation

Bhubaneswar:26/8/20: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the schools and colleges will remain shut till Puja vacation in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reviewing the corona situation through video conferencing on Wednesday, Patnaik said this has been done keeping in view the anxiety of parents and guardians following the COVID situation in the state.

Dwelling upon the revival of the village economy, Odisha CM said he has directed the administration to focus on loan assistance, MSME, agriculture, pisciculture, animal husbandry, and SHG.

Patnaik said the government has been trying its best to provide assistance to the migrant workers, small-time businessmen, and other traders.

The SHG members who are engaged in mask making will be given priority to boost their business and those masks could be bought from the MLA’s regional fund. The Chief Minister expressed his satisfaction that the positivity rate of COVID has come down and the rate of testing has gone up.

He directed the officials to provide assistance to farmers and small-time traders and urged the people to keep calm during the pandemic.

The Chief Minister said a special strategy has been adopted to fight COVID at hotspots and urged the people to maintain social distancing and strictly adhere to norms. He stressed the availability of ICU facilities at all COVID hospitals across the state.

Patnaik said the financial assistance to COVID Warriors will be given to their family members by Friday. Additional Chief Secretary Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said the recovery rate has risen to 71.3 percent. The death rate has come down to 0.5, he added.

Mohapatra said 54 percent of active coronavirus patients are staying in quarantine homes. The fire brigade, police, and NDRF personnel are frontline workers who have donated their plasma. He said while Cuttack, Balasore, and Kendrapara districts are in the front as far as plasma donation is concerned, Maikangiri, Boudh, and Rayagada districts have fared well in the field of quarantine.

He said sero survey has reached the second phase in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela will have its first-round soon. Koraput will have another Plasma bank tomorrow.

The review meeting also discussed various measures being taken to tackle the flood-like situation in the state. The SRC Pradip Kumar Jena said nine districts have registered 100 mm of rain on average in the past two days. Rivers Baitarani, Budhabalang, and Salandi are in spate and the state is going to witness more rain in two days.

He said 10 ODRAF teams have been pressed into service for rescue and relief work, Jena said and added that patrolling has been intensified in embankments where there are possibilities of breaches.

The virtual meet was attended by Chief Secretary, DGP, Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Secretary Home, and 5T Secretary V K Pandian.