Passport Office closed in Odisha till March 31 over coronavirus outbreak

Bhubaneswar: In a bid to discourage social gatherings to contain spread of coronavirus which is fast spreading its tentacles in India, the Ministry of External Affairs has decided to shut passport offices.

As per an official communiqué, the Regional Passport Office here will be closed from tomorrow till March 31. Apart from this, Passport Seva Kendras operating at India Post Offices will also remain closed during this period. Appointments till March 31 have been cancelled and applicants can reapply for issue/renewal of passports after April 7 online.

Worth mentioning, applicants can reschedule appointments and fee remitted is valid for a year.

However, all 36 Regional Passport Offices across India will remain operational for emergency services only.

The state government has announced lockdown in nine more districts today taking the figure to 14. The government is not taking any chances and doing every bit on its part to make people aware of the deadly infection caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Till the filing of the report, 433 persons including 31 foreign nationals have been found to be coronavirus positive in India and eight persons have succumbed to the fatal disease.

Odisha has reported two infected cases with no deaths so far.