Another Odisha MLA tests positive for Covid-19, state’s tally crosses 10,000-mark

A day after a BJP lawmaker contracted Covid-19 in Odisha, a first-time MLA of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) also tested positive for the coronavirus disease on Tuesday. The state also reported an all-time high 571 Covid-19 cases on a single day, taking the total numbers past 10,000.

Officials said BJD MLA from Salepur, Prashant Nayak, has tested positive.

Meanwhile, the Covid-19 situation in Bhubaneswar seems to be getting worse with Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) shutting down two branches of ICICI Bank in the city after 15 people working in those offices tested positive for Covid-19. “As a precautionary measure and larger public interest after detection of 15 positive cases ICICI Bank, Cuttack Road Branch & Sales Section of ICICI Bank, Bhubaneswar Main Branch, near Sriya Talkies has been closed by BMC,” tweeted BMC.

Apart from the private bank’s branches, the BMC also sealed the Bhubaneswar Regional Transport Office (RTO)-I in the city after detection of four Covid-19 positive cases there. All the employees of the RTO will be quarantined.

Earlier on Tuesday, the BMC had closed Tech Mahindra office in Bhubaneswar for violation of the standard operating procedure for Covid-19 management. The officials of the civic authority said that seven people working in the BPO section of the company had tested positive within a week. The BMC officials said the company didn’t follow the quarantine guidelines after detection of a positive case.

In hard-hit Ganjam district, where 2,621 cases have been reported so far, official said all the urban areas will be shut down between July 9 and July 13. In Puri, restrictions have been imposed on the cremation of dead bodies in Swargadwara crematorium in the wake of rise in Covid-19 cases. Dead bodies from out of Puri district will not be allowed to be cremated at Swargadwara.