Bhubaneswar: In the wake of the COVID-19 upsurge in the country, Odisha Government on Saturday modified the instructions issued for the passengers coming from high-risk states by airways and railways. The states include Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
The state health and family welfare department stated that the precautionary measures may be limited to passengers from five high-risk States instead of twelve.
The situation is being monitored and surveillance may be extended to other states in future if the emergency arises, the Department said in the letter to all the district collectors, municipal commissioners, CDMOs and PHOs.
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In its previous order, the health authorities had instructed to strictly implement COVID rules on the passengers travelling to Odisha from Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal, Punjab, Delhi, Chandigarh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh by trains or flights.
The home ministry Friday said the existing COVID-19 guidelines will remain in force till March 31.
In a statement, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said while there has been a substantial decline in the active and new COVID-19 cases, there is a need to maintain surveillance, containment and caution so as to fully overcome the pandemic.
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Odisha today recorded fresh 673 active COVID-19 cases and 63 people were recovered. A total of 83,00,449 people have been tested and 3,37,104 people have recovered.
Meanwhile, India recorded a single-day spike of over 16,000 COVID-19 cases on Saturday, pushing the infection tally to 1,10,79,979, while the recoveries surged to 1,07,63,451, according to Union Health Ministry data.
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With agency inputs
