Contact tracing for Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation falters as COVID-19 cases rise

A 53-year-old driver of BDA has been infected with the virus and he had come in contact with the security personnel posted at the planning section of the office who tested positive on June 26.
People ignore social distancing norms as they line up outside a bank in Bhubaneswar. (File photo| Irfana, EPS)
People ignore social distancing norms as they line up outside a bank in Bhubaneswar. (File photo| Irfana, EPS)

BHUBANESWAR:  In what appears to be a fallout of mishandling of COVID-19 cases, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) building was shutdown on Wednesday as one more person from the office tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours.

A 53-year-old driver of BDA has been infected with the virus and he had come in contact with the security personnel posted at the planning section of the office who tested positive on June 26. Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials said the building was closed down for 48 hours for sanitisation.

The driver, engaged in engineering section of the office, was on duty on the day he was tested positive. Panic gripped employees of BDA after the second case came to fore. The driver was asymptomatic and had not quarantined himself after giving his swab sample for test at a camp organised by the civic body.  

The incident has questioned efficiency of the civic body as well as the Health department in contact tracing of COVID-19 patients as officials have not been able to answer how the driver was not quarantined if he had come in contact with security personnel. The civic officials who had claimed earlier that all the immediate contacts have been quarantined in the first case had no clue about it. 

While the issue underlines the need for a foolproof mechanism that Government needs in dealing with the situation, the question as to how public entry to BDA office was not restricted till Tuesday irrespective of the fact that the source of infection was known in the first case underlines the mistakes that need to be corrected at the earliest to deal with the crisis effectively. 

However, BMC Commissioner and BDA Vice-Chairman Prem Chandra Chaudhary said that adequate measures are in place to contain spread of the virus further. Apart from closing the office, 20 BDA staff who had come in contact with the second patients have been quarantined.

12 more cases reported

The COVID-19 tally in the Capital surged to 332 on Wednesday as 12 more cases were reported in last 24 hours. BMC officials said six of the eight local cases had travel history to Ganjam. Meanwhile, containment restrictions have been lifted from Subas Nagar slum.

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