Chief Minister Neveen Patnaik on Wednesday administered pledges of combating coronavirus to the Sarpanhes of all 6,798 gram panchayats through videoconferencing from the Naveen Niwas here.
Patnaik asked the Sarpanches to ensure that all people who return from outside the State are put in quarantine and provided with shelter, foods and required treatment. In no case, they would allow corona to enter villages.
Notably, the Chief Minister has recently given powers of a district Collector to the Sarpanches to fight corona.
He also interacted with some Sarpanches.
Panchayati Raj Minister Pratap Jena said the Sarapanches would now work as frontline COVID warriors. 5-T Secretary VK Pandian gave realistic suggestions to Sarapanches.
Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 positive cases in Odisha increased to 83 on Wednesday after three persons of Bhadrak district and one of Jajpur tested positive for coronavirus.
The Jajpur patient is a 38-year-old man having a travel history to West Bengal. With this, the number of COVID-19 cases rose to eight in the district.
All three Bhadrak patients are residents of Basudevpur block and have a travel history to Kolkata. With this, the number of positive cases rose to 11 in the district.
So far, the number of active cases is 50 while 32 persons have recovered and one has died in the State.