Paralakhemundi to be shut for 3 days from Friday for door-to-door survey

BERHAMPUR: The Gajapati district administration has decided to impose a complete shutdown of its district headquarters town — Paralakhemundi — for three days from Friday.
“The decision to impose the shutdown was taken to facilitate the medical teams to conduct door-to-door screening of the health status of the residents in the town owing to the increasing Covid cases,” Gajapati district collector Anupam Saha said.
In order to help the people buy essential commodities ahead of the complete shutdown, the district administration has allowed the shops to remain open from 7am to 7pm on Thursday. On other days, they have been allowed to remain open from till 2pm only.
The district collector said no one will be allowed to go outside the town, except in emergency cases, during the shutdown. Similarly, no outsider will be allowed to enter the town during the period. All roads from Paralakhemundi to Ganjam, Rayagada district to Srikakulam district in neighboring Andhra Pradesh will be sealed, he added. Only the vehicles going for emergency work will be allowed to go out of the district, he said.
The district collector further said around 60 medical teams and 16 sector officer teams have been constituted for the door-to-door surveillance to find out the Covid-related cases. “The health condition of the residents will be screened with the help of infrared thermometer and pulse oxymetes,” he added.
“At least four police mobile teams will be deployed in the town to maintain law and order during the shutdown,” Gajapati SP Sarah Sharma said.
Meanwhile, the district’s total Covid positive cases increased to 519 with three more positive cases on Wednesday. While two of the fresh cases were found from Nuagada block, the other one was from Gosani block. All these three cases were found during the active surveillance by the district administration, the district collector said.