Odisha earned praise from the World Health Organisation (WHO) for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chief Minister’s Office said the day when the opposition BJP and Congress slammed the state government in Assembly, accusing it to mishandle the situation.

“Odisha earned praise from @WHO for its effective governance & community-based strategies to contain the spread of COVID-19 & keep the fatality very low. WHO highlighted Odisha’s early response, dedicated COVID Hospitals & decentralised management through GPs,” the CMO said in its Twitter post on Wednesday.

In another Twitter post, the CMO shared an article by the WHO, “From Governance to Community Resilience: Odishas Response to COVID-19”. The article said Odisha, ‘known for its track record of efficiently handling natural disasters, including the recent cyclone (Amphan)’, has managed the COVID-19 pandemic ‘quite efficiently’.

The CMO pointed out the WHO articles’ highlights, adding a picture that said, “They are early containment measures, dedicated COVID Hospitals, effective monitoring, telemedicine and plasma therapy, realtime information through state COVID dashboard, training of 1,80,000 health workers and financial incentives.”

The article praised Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, saying that he “ordered an immediate closure of many public places on March 13, even though the state had not reported a single case of COVID-19.” 

The article, dated September 17, said, “As of June 24, 2020, the state recorded an impressive recovery rate of 69.4%, and the mortality rate of just 0.29%, which is one of the best in the country. Odisha was the first in the country to initiate strict measures.”