ROURKELA: Even after easing of COVID-19 restrictions across the State, weekly markets in villages of Nuagaon block in Sundargarh block close down by 1 pm. Such self-regulation has been immensely helpful in containing community spread of the virus and the statistics prove it.
As per records, excluding Rourkela city, the rest of the 17 blocks in the district with three urban local bodies with a population have reported 720 positive cases till now. Now take a look at Rourkela, with a population of 5.6 lakh, where 1,733 cases have been recorded till date.
Chief district medical and public health Officer Dr SK Mishra said of the 720 positive cases recorded from the blocks, merely 130 are local contacts and the rest have travel history. He said collective efforts of people residing in villages along with regulatory and awareness measures undertaken by PRI members especially sarpanchs have yielded encouraging results. On the other hand, dense population and rampant violation of Covid guidelines have been responsible for rise in cases in the Steel City.
Sarpanch of Hatibari in Nuagaon Binod Dehuri said weekly markets in villages are not allowed to open after 1 pm. Besides, vendors and customers are required to wear masks and maintain social distancing.
With such self-discipline in place, no positive case has yet been reported from the panchayat, he said. Nuagaon panchayat samiti chairman Maklu Ekka said since July 3, owing to rise in positive cases across the State, the majority of the 20 panchayats in the block were shut down by their respective sarpanchs.
Though it caused inconvenience to farmers and traders, the cases in the block remained confined to just 20 with no local transmission reported yet. Soon after the first positive case was reported on April 11 in Bisra, residents of villages in seven blocks of the district erected barricades to restrict the entry of outsiders.
However, the barricades were removed a few weeks later by police. Sundargarh zilla parishad president Emma Ekka said barring a few, the majority of tribals residing in villages are aware of the risks and have been taking the required steps to contain the spread of the virus.