Odisha orders 'weekend shutdown' in 11 highly affected districts in June

The Odisha government has imposed a complete ‘weekend shutdown’ in 11 of the worst affected districts in the state during the month of June. Out of the total 30 districts Ganjam, Puri, Nayagarh, Khorda, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore, Bolangir will be shut down for four weekends in June with relaxation only for public and emergency services.

The order was given to curb the rapid spread of coronavirus in the state which increased after lakhs of stranded migrants to their hometowns in Odisha.

The order was given by Chief Secretary Amit Tripathy on Monday (June 1) while announcing the new measures of ‘Lockdown 5’. It is on the same day that Odisha recorded the single day highest spike of 156 COVID positive cases. He said that all services in these districts would remain inoperable on Saturdays and Sundays except hospitals, nursing homes, medicine stores and petrol pumps till June 30. However, all educational institutes, training and coaching centres would remain shut till July 31.

Similarly, shopping malls, cinema halls, gymnasiums, and swimming pools would remain closed till June 30. However, hotels can function with 30% of their capacity, while restaurants would be open to in-house guests and also allowed to operate their takeaway services.

The current number of positive cases stands at 2,388 in Odisha with nine confirmed deaths and 1,416 recoveries. There are 963 active cases currently in the state.