SAMBALPUR: Sambalpur recorded its first coronavirus case after an 18-year-old youth from Khandam village in Tribanpur panchayat of Rairakhol block tested positive on Sunday.
Collector Subham Saxena said the youth had returned from Ahmedabad in Gujarat on May 11. He was staying at Luhapank quarantine centre in Rairakhol after his arrival. His swab had been collected which was found to be positive. The administration has started contact tracing of the patient.
Sources said the youth, who was working in a plastic factory in Ahmedabad, came to Khurda by train. From there, he along with 45 migrant workers came to Sambalpur in a bus. Of the 46 returnees, 20 were kept in Luhapank quarantine centre and the rest 26 were quarantined in Tribanpur. The swab samples of those put up in Luhapank quarantine centre were collected on May 15 and the reports came on Sunday.
The patient has already been shifted to the Covid-19 hospital at Talcher in Angul district. Following detection of the coronavirus patient, Luhapank sarpanch Aswini Pradhan gave instruction to close down all the shops located in 500 metre radius from the local quarantine centre.