Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has made wearing face masks mandatory in all health facilities as the active COVID-19 caseload in the state crossed the 3,000 mark on Monday (April 24), an official said. Odisha now has 3,086 coronavirus-infected patients, and 181 more were cured of the disease in the last 24 years, he said.
In a letter to all stakeholders, including chief district medical officers, the public health directorate said,
In view of the rising of COVID-19 cases both in the country and in Odisha and as part of adopting COVID appropriate behaviour in health institutions, it has been decided to enforce the use of masks in all the health institutions.
Public Health director Niranjan Mishra said the order applies to all healthcare providers during duty hours, all officials and others present in meetings. The health department had earlier said in an advisory,
If you experience symptoms like cold, cough, fever and sore throat, you should isolate yourself and go for a COVID-19 test. Wear a face mask properly whenever you go outside, avoid crowded places and maintain hand hygiene to protect yourself from coronavirus.
The state health authorities have been focusing on the detection of cases to arrest the spread of the disease and testing 6,000-7,000 samples for the last few days, the official added.
Also Read: India Reports Over 11,000 Fresh COVID Cases With Delhi Reporting The Maximum Numbers
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NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
