COVID-19 lockdown extended by two weeks till May 17

Bhubaneswar: The Union government this evening decided to extend the nationwide lockdown by two more weeks till May 17 to contain the spread of novel coronavirus.

The decision was announced after the meeting chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the fourth meeting in two days.

“A limited number of activities will remain prohibited across India, irrespective of the zone including travel by air, rail, metro and inter-state movement by road, running of schools, colleges and other educational and training/coaching institutions,” said Ministry of Home Affairs.

Further it said, “In red zones outside containment zones, certain activities are prohibited in addition to those prohibited throughout India. These are: plying of cycle rickshaws, auto rickshaws, taxis and cab aggregators, intra-district, inter-district plying of buses and barber shops, spas and saloons.”

However, taxis and cab aggregators will be permitted with one driver and two passengers only in orange zones, apart from those permitted in red zones.

Worth mentioning, the red zones declared will have no relaxations during the Lockdown 3.0 whereas the districts under orange and green zones will have some of the restrictions lifted.

As many as 130 districts across the nations are under red zone of which three are from Odisha – Jajpur, Bhadrak and Balasore. Six districts are under orange and 21 under green zone in the state.

As per the latest data, the number of confirmed cases in the state stands at 149 of which 93 are active and 55 have recovered. The state has reported only one fatality so far.