Partial lockdown extension in Odisha: Know what’s OPEN and what’s CLOSED

Bhubaneswar: With decline of COVID-19 positivity rate in Odisha, the State Government decided to extend the partial lockdown by two weeks with more relaxations.

The partial lockdown against transmission of COVID-19 will continue till 6.00 AM of August 1 from 6.00 AM of July 16, informed the State Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra.

As per the fresh guidelines, all the shops, bus services, gyms, beauty parlours, Spa will remain opened in all 30 districts from tomorrow.

Based on the district-wise current positivity rate, the districts have been divided into two categories A and B.

As per the Government’s decision, there will be no change in the categories, the Mahapatra said.

In view of the decline in COVID-19 cases, the Government has decided to relax the restrictions till 8.00 PM in 20 Category-A districts till August 1. The restrictions will be relaxed upto 5.00 PM in remaining 10 Category-B districts.

There will be no weekend shutdown in Category A districts. But, the night curfew will continue as before in 20 Category A districts.

In Category B districts, the shops will remain open for five days. The weekend shutdown will continue as before till next 15 days.

Here’re the activities ALLOWED during Partial Lockdown in Odisha:

• All shops (except shopping mall), transport of goods, industrial activities, construction activities
• Bus Services
• Hospitals, clinics, medicine stores and diagnostics centres. All healthcare services including AYUSH to remain functional
• Veterinary hospitals, dispensaries, clinics, pathology labs, sale and supply of vaccine and medicines
• Indoor/outdoor shooting for films in category-A and B districts
• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and its regulated financial markets and entities like NPCI, CCIL and payment system operators
• All bank branches, banking and ATM services
• Movement of all medical and veterinary personnel by air to other states
• Railway, airports, seaports to continue operation as per Centre’s guidelines
  Postal services
• Movements allowed for COVID testing and vaccination
• Agriculture, fisheries and animal husbandry
• Government and private offices will run with 50% employees capacity
• Home delivery by operators/online delivery of all goods/services by e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Blue Dart, Big Basket, Zomato, Swiggy, KFC, Pizza Hut, Dominos, Uber Eats etc.
• Retailers of food and grocery items such as Big Bazaar, Reliance Fresh, OMFED, OPOLFED, Chilika Fresh, Spencers etc. They are also allowed to provide home delivery services
• Print, Electronic and web media (members of media houses may have to produce authorisation from their appropriate authorities specifically showing their areas of movement)
• IT and IT enabled services with with a maximum of 50% staff
• Data and Call centres with bare minimum staff
• Telecommunications, internet services, broadcasting, cable services/DTH and optical fibre
• Petrol pumps, LPG, petroleum and gas retail and storage outlets with home delivery
• Power Generation, transmission and distribution units and services
• Government approved common service centres at Gram Panchayat level
• Cold storage and warehousing services including ports, airports, railway stations, container depots, individual units and other links in the logistic chains
• Private security services and facilities management services for maintenance and upkeep of office and residential complexes
• Hotels, home stays, lodges and motels, which are accommodating tourists and persons stranded due to lockdown, medical and emergency staff, air and sea crew
• Services provided by self-employed persons i.e electrician, IT repairs, plumbers, motor mechanics and carpenters etc
• Shops that repair and service electrical and electronic appliances including fans, air coolers, water purifiers, ACs, mobile phones, computers and accessories etc
• Milk booths dealing in milk products and bread are allowed to operate within the stipulated time period.
• Restaurants and dhabas for home delivery and take away services only
• All Aahaar centres for take away service only
• OLA and Uber services
• Outdoor sports activities

Here’s activities CLOSED during lockdown:

• Parks, shopping mall, cinema halls
• All educational/training/coaching institutions. However, physical conduct of examinations by the State and Central agencies to be allowed on case to case basis by the respective departments with due intimation to all concerned authorities.
• Jatra, opera and open air theatres
• Daily and weekly markets in category-B districts
• Inter-state public transport by buses to remain suspended
• The lockdown restrictions for marriage, cremation, meetings, social gatherings, opening of temples will continue as before.

The positivity rate has dipped to 3% in Odisha. Accordingly, the districts been divided into two categories A and B. While 20 districts — Angul, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Bargarh, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Kalahandi, Balangir, Nuapada, Sonepur, Ganjam, Gajapati, Kandhamal, Boudh, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Malkangiri, Rayagada — come under Category-A, the remaining 10 districts — Khordha, Puri, Cuttack, Nayagarh, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore and Mayurbhanj — have been categorised under B.