Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday said that the next few days are going to be very crucial for the state government's efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 as Odia migrants will be coming back from other coronavirus affected states.
In a video message, Patnaik said, "We have another challenge which is to take care of Odia people returning from West Bengal, as out of total 122 positive cases in the state, the number corona cases of West Bengal returnees are 50. Next few days are very crucial as more people will return from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Delhi Rajasthan Karnataka and from neighbouring West Bengal."
"The return of Odia people from these most affected states in the country may cause the increase in positive cases in the State but if people coming from outside will register and everyone will cooperate with the Govt here, the situation in the state will continue to remain under control," he said.
Patnaik further said, "Ten days back COVID-19 positive cases in the state were 61 which have now increased to double, but no need to fear, we can stop this by remaining careful."
"Initially, we had the challenge to take care of Odia people returning from abroad and Odisha was the first state that started the registration of its citizens returning back to the state. After that taking care of the people who returned from Nizamuddin in Delhi was another challenge for the Government," he said.
"I had requested the people to support Government, and we got public support due to that we were able to control the situation earlier," he added.
( With inputs from ANI )