By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: The unrelenting onslaught of COVID-19 in ruling BJD’s strongholds like Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore has sent shock wave among the spin doctors of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, with positive cases tally reaching at 142 till Thursday evening including 41 of which have been cured and discharged from various Hospitals while 1 person died.
Thursday’s 17 positive cases, which reported from Jajpur, the home turf of Naveen’s second in command in party, Boby Das alias Pranab Prakash, who happens to be the ‘Man Friday’ of both BJD boss as well as his two Advisors like VK Pandian and R Balakrishnan, forced political analysts to term the situation as ‘COVID-19 Onslaught’ on BJD stronghold.
The new 17 cases from Jajpur’s Katikata area and regular reports of positive cases from Balasore and Bhadrak has forced the Government, which had earlier deputed 3 senior IAS officers to man, to rethink its strategy to contain the spread of the disease.
With the detection of 17 cases, all having West Bengal link, the number of COVID-19 patients in Jajpur has now climbed to 36, an official said, adding that the district has become second to Bhubaneswar, located in Khurda district, which accounts for 47 infected persons.
Of the 142 patients, 102 are still afflicted with the disease while 41 have recovered and one has died, they said.47 of the 142 cases have been reported in Bhubaneswar, followed by 36 in Jajpur, 19 each in Bhadrak and Balasore, 10 in Sundargarh, 02 each in Kendrapara and Kalahandi and 01 each in Cuttack, Puri, Dhenkanal, Koraput, Jharsuguda, Deogarh and Keonjhar Districts, officials say.
