29 BSF jawans test positive for COVID-19 in Odisha's Malkangiri in highest single day spike

All the infected BSF jawans were lodged at different quarantine centres in Ward No 9 of the district headquarters town.
Policemen guarding the entry and exit points of the containment zone (Photo | EPS)
Policemen guarding the entry and exit points of the containment zone (Photo | EPS)

MALKANGIRI: Malkangiri reported its biggest single-day spike in coronavirus cases with 36 persons including 29 Border Security Force (BSF) jawans testing positive on Tuesday.

All the infected BSF jawans were lodged at different quarantine centres in Ward No 9 of the district headquarters town.

The remaining new Covid- 19 patients include four inmates of a temporary medical centre (TMC) at MV-7 in Malkangiri block with travel history to Tamil Nadu and New Delhi and three persons in home quarantine in MV-12 under Korukonda block. The trio had returned from New Delhi recently.

The 29 BSF personnel had retur ned from Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal and were accommodated in different hostels which have been turned into quarantine centres. Sources said two BSF jawans at Bandhugaon camp in Koraput district have also tested positive.

Soon after the reports of jawans came positive, the district administration declared the area from DRDA Office square to IMST School square including Sileru hostel, Malyabanta boys’ hostel, a high school and Government Junior Science College as containment zones. Similarly, Jeutipalli primary school and Kalimandir street of MV-12 under Tumsapalli panchayat in Korukonda block were also declared containment zone.

Malkangiri Collector Manish Agarwal said the Fire services department has been asked to immediately fumigate and sanitise all the areas under containment zone. He said more than 600 BSF jawans have been quarantined in four TMCs in the town.

Two metre distance is being maintained between beds in the quarantine centres and there are adequate toilets for all inmates in the four TMCs.

The BSF personnel arriving in the district are being subjected to thermal screening and after reaching the TMCs, those having Covid-19 symptoms are segregated from asymptomatic jawans and accommodated in separate rooms. Malkangiri has so far reported 96 positive cases of which 52 have recovered.

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