india

Updated: Apr 28, 2020 00:35 IST

Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday pitched for a national standard operating procedure for smooth movement of stranded persons including students, workers, pilgrims, patients, professionals so that it is seamless across states.

Patnaik’s proposal came during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video conference with chief ministers. The chief minister also sought assistance from the Centre for increasing Covid-19 testing capacity.

Though Odisha health minister Naba Das early in the day said Odisha had demanded extension of the lockdown for a month, he later denied it saying the same was demanded by all the health ministers. “Neither my state nor I have personally demanded,” he said, adding that Odisha has the coronavirus crisis in control, when compared to other state’s population and the number of tests performed.

During the meeting, PM Modi said that the impact of coronavirus will remain visible in the coming months. He highlighted the importance for states to enforce guidelines strictly in the hotspots i.e. the red zone areas. He stated that the efforts of the states should be directed towards converting the red zones into orange and thereafter to green zones.

The prime minister also urged chief ministers to factor in the changes in weather – advent of summer and monsoon – and the illnesses that can potentially come in this season, while strategising ahead.

Of the 111 who tested positive for Covid-19 in Odisha, 37 have recovered while one person who also had co-morbidity factors, died.

Odisha was the first state to declare lockdown all over the state on March 24 after predicting a doomsday-like scenario of 36,000 cases of coronavirus in the state by May-end if people did not remain in their homes.

In the last two weeks, apart from Sundargarh, Jajpur, Balasore, Bhadrak and Koraput districts, none of the other 26 districts have reported a single case. Khurda district which includes the capital city of Bhubaneswar is the only hotspot district in the state though no new cases have been reported from there in the last 12 days.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and Bhubaneswar police commissioner said that as the capital city is in a red zone with 46 cases, all the norms of lockdown will continue.

Meanwhile, chief minister Patnaik announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 15 lakh to the next of kin of any working journalist and ex-gratia of Rs 50 lakh for police personnel in case of death while performing the Covid-19 duty.

A few days back the government had declared that Rs 50 lakh ex gratia will be given for all doctors, nurses and heath personnel who lose their lives in the fight against Covid-19. The state government also said health workers who die during the fight against Covid-19 will be treated as “martyrs” and accorded a state funeral.

In another development, a 32-year-old doctor posted at the Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), a dedicated Covid-19 hospital in Bhubaneswar, died Monday. He had a day off after seven days and died of some other medical complications. He had tested negative for Covid-19, officials said.