As Odisha continues its battle against COVID-19, the Ganjam district administration has decided to observe a COVID awareness week starting from September 24, in an attempt to make people aware of the importance of social distancing and wearing a mask. Distribution of masks, sanitation, identification of plasma donors and more will be witnessed during the awareness week.
At the panchayat level, door-to-door screenings will be held to identify suspected virus patients, COVID-19 tests would be ramped up, and awareness rallies will be organised, said District collector V A Kulange. Additionally, social distancing and COVID awareness chariots will be deployed across the Ganjam district during the week to announce the protocols of COVID in various languages.
Even after repeated workshops, instructions and implementation of strict rules, COVID cases in the state keeps pilling up. Various economic activities have begun under the provisions of Unlock 4, which makes the awareness week a necessity, as several people are not following the regulations.
“Apart from these, we have also planned to organise health and nutrition webinars, an online competition for school children,” Kulange pointed. The District collector has also directed all block development officers and tehsildars to observe the week at a micro-level. “The battle is still continuing, and we will have to fight till the end,” Kulange said.
Odisha, along with states such as Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Delhi, remains to be worse-hit state by the virus. According to the Odisha health ministry’s dashboard, the state has registered over 1,96,888 COVID-19 cases till now, which include 38,818 active cases, 1,57,265 recoveries/discharges and 752 deaths. Ganjam district logged 90 fresh COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the overall tally to 19,871.