Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday appealed to the people of the state to follow the Covid-19 guidelines.
Patnaik while replying to the motion of thanks on Governor’s address in the State Assembly said that the number of COVID infection in different States of the country including Maharashtra is gradually increasing once again, therefore there is a need to follow all the Covid-19 guidelines including the social distancing norms and use of masks.
“The World has been going through an unprecedented crisis over the last one year. Never in the history of humankind such a global scale of devastating pandemic has taken place. This crisis has touched every nation, every town, every village and every human being. This was not only a public health crisis but also severe damage to livelihoods and economies across the societies,” he said.
The CM said, “Thanks to our Disaster preparedness and cooperation of the people of the State, Odisha has been able to overcome the challenges posed by Covid-19 pandemic. Our Government, with great foresight, has taken several proactive steps right from the beginning to tackle the emerging scenario. This was a completely new type of war we were fighting against an invisible and unknown enemy. However, with courage and determination, we as a society have been able to effectively rise to the occasion.”
He further said that we were among the first state to declare the situation as a disaster even before a single case was detected. We went for preventive and targeted Lockdown, much before the National Lockdown. We ensured strict enforcement of the Covid Health protocols across the State. To a large extent, this helped us in slowing down the spread of the virus.
“To ensure that the poor people do not suffer during the Lockdown, we provided support with rations, pensions, scholarships, Anganwadi Centres etc. Even Free kitchens were started across the State. Vulnerable sections like Street Vendors were provided with financial support,” Patnaik added.
He went on to say that we were the first State to set up large-scale dedicated Covid Hospitals across the State. We had partnered with the leading Private hospitals to ensure that the Covid Hospitals were set up across the State. Many of these facilities were provided in record time period. These hospitals along with Covid Care Centres and Temporary Medical Camps provided health care to thousands of patients within a short period of time. These hospitals and ambulance services ensured that there was no panic in the State in spite of the rapidly rising numbers during August-September 2020 period.
Naveen also said, “We managed in an efficient and sensitive manner the return of lakhs of migrant Odias, who wanted to come back to their homes in these times of crisis. Probably we were the only State with such a huge number of quarantine centers till the village level. The Sarpanchs, PRI members, Mission Shakti groups, field level workers like ASHA workers have played a very crucial role in the successful management of this Covid crisis across the State.”
Recalling the cooperation and support of people of the State, he said, “We also had to face the threat of a Super Cyclone Amphan during this period. However, with the cooperation and support of people we were able to overcome every challenge.”
“The hallmark of our Covid management has been that from testing to treatment, it was free for all. This helped in early detection, isolation and treatment of the Covid positive cases. This is the primary reason for the low mortality rate in the State compared to other States. The Community involvement from the beginning has also contributed significantly in the awareness campaigns and local level Covid management. Odisha has been praised as a model even by WHO and other reputed institutions for effectively tackling the pandemic,” the Chief Minister said.
Ms Kalinga