Cyclone Fani: Odisha government says adequate steps taken to avoid outbreak of any epidemic

Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India

The Odisha government Friday claimed to have taken adequate steps to avoid the outbreak of an epidemic in the aftermath of cyclone 'Fani'.

"There is no report of any disease outbreak from any parts of the cyclone-affected 14 districts," an official statement said, adding that reports about an outbreak of cholera in a section of media are completely baseless.

Though there have been sporadic reports of diarrhoea cases in Puri and other districts, none of them has taken the form of an epidemic, a health official said, adding that teams have been deployed in all the affected areas to look after health issues.

Health and Family Welfare Secretary PK Meherda has visited the cyclone-affected areas and ensured sufficient stock of essential medicines made available at all health care centres, another official said.

He said National Health Mission (NHM) Director Shalini Pandit is also in continuous touch with the field staff and mobile health units operating in the zone.

At least 89,091 open water sources have been disinfected and 60 samples tested for dengue gave negative results, the official said.

Meanwhile, hot and humid weather has compounded the woes of people living in Puri district as the power supply has still not been restored in the majority of the households there.

Of the 1,58,805 consumers of electricity in the district, the power supply has been restored in 4,800 households, the official said.

In Nimapada block of the district, only 840 households, out of 1,22,549 have been provided electricity, he said.

However, there was no information about other blocks of Puri district like Brahmagiri, Astarang, Chandanpur, Delang, Gadisagada, Kakatpur, Konark, Krushnaprasad, Pipili, Ramachandi and Satyabadi, he added.