Till today, Three Covid-19 positive cases are reported in Sambalpur District. First Covid-19 positive case was reported from Rairakhol Sub-division and other two are kept in isolation in TMC at Larpank. The last two cases are from one family. Reported that the three are male and they came sambalpur on the same day 11th of May.

According to the Sambalpur district administration, the first COVID-19 infected patient is a Gujarat returnee who was infected on the 11th of May and the infected person came back to his native village Luhapank coming under Rairakhol Sub-division of Sambalpur district. The infected person has come from Ahmadabad of Gujarat. And the positive case is an 18-year-old male migrant worker and was under quarantine.

The second two patients are male and aged about 47 & 55 years belong to one family. They are West Bengal Returnees and returned to Sambalpur on 11.05.2020. Since then they were kept in isolation in TMC at Larpank, Sambalpur.

Contact tracing is under process in both cases.

Get Grocery at your DoorSteps from today March 26th, as the administration has shortlisted 79 grocery stores across nine wards of the Sambalpur city and people can contact any of the store nearest to their ward.

With people of Sambalpur resorting to panic buying leading to overcrowding at markets, the district administration has decided to provide grocery at their doorsteps from Thursday.The move comes following a meeting on Wednesday to take stock of coronavirus prevention measures where issues like overcrowding at shops and panic buying were raised.

The administration has shortlisted 79 grocery stores across nine wards of the Sambalpur city and people can contact any of the store nearest to their ward. “The shopkeeper after collecting multiple orders from one locality, will send the stocks to the area through autorickshaws. We have identified volunteers who will collect the ordered items and deliver them at people’s houses. All precautions will be taken to ensure that the grocery packets are sanitised and there is no multiple handling of the packets”, said an official of the administration.

Meanwhile, panic buying was witnessed at several places in the city right after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for nationwide lockdown on Monday evening.

A local, Karuna Sahu went ahead to purchase a large stock of onions, potatoes and rice after coming to know that wholesale shops are running out of stock. “I bought potatoes for `25 a kg a day before but today, the price went up to `35 per kg. If shops are unable to maintain the stock, people will face shortage of food materials very soon”, he said.

Price of onion and rice was also high at the Khetrajpur market, which is the largest wholesale market in the city. Most of the wholesalers here claimed that the stocks have become low in the last few days. Locals, however, allege that traders at Khetrajpur are hoarding food grains and vegetables to sell them at exorbitant rate at the later phase of lockdown.

Like wholesalers, retail shopkeepers are also claiming to have limited stock of essential commodities as trucks carrying the goods are not reaching Sambalpur on time. To deal with the shortage, traders are restricting people from buying groceries and vegetables in large quantities. They are apprehensive of the situation worsening if the trucks do not arrive by the end of this week.

The homeless and daily wagers are also facing the brunt. Though they are being provided food through various sources but are still apprehensive that they might not be able to buy regular food items once the prices rise due to shortage.

How will it operate

• 79 grocery stores across 9 wards selected
• People can contact the stores and place orders
• After taking multiple orders from an area, shopkeeper will send the stock to the place through an auto
• A volunteer of the administration will collect the grocery stock and deliver it at people’s doorsteps
• All precautions will be taken to ensure that the grocery packets are sanitised