COVID-19: Weekend shutdown extended to 3 more Odisha districts

Nayagarh/Bargarh/Balangir: In view of steep hike in COVID-19 cases, the authorities have announced weekend shutdown in three more districts to contain spread of deadly virus.

The weekend shutdown will be enforced in Nayagarh, Balangir and Baragrh districts.

Since the COVID-19 cases are likely to peak in the month of July, the administration of respective districts took precautionary measure by enforcing weekend shutdown following increasing cases.

With the move, all the commercial establishments and movement of private vehicles, hotels, restaurants and bars excluding essential and healthcare services will remain shut for two days on Saturday and Sunday every week in Nayagarh, Bargarh and Balangir districts.

The weekend shutdown will remain in force till end of July.

In Nayagarh, the shops will remain open from 7.00 AM to 2.00 PM everyday other than weekend. Besides, 3 wards under Nayagarh NAC have been declared as containment zone following detection of fresh cases.

Already, the weekend shutdown is in force in 10 districts – Ganjam, Gajapati, Khordha, Cuttack, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Jharsuguda – till July 31. Based on the number of active cases, the State government has categorized these 10 districts under Zone-1.

Meanwhile, Malkangiri administration declared 17-hour shutdown in the district restricting movement of vehicles and non-essential services from 2.00 PM to 7.00 AM till July 31. However, the relaxation has been made for only 7 hours in the morning till 2.00 PM everyday. The collector took the step in view of rising number of COVID cases in Malkangiri district.