Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government Monday extended the Covid-19 restrictions issued for January by another month till February end. However, some rules were relaxed slightly.
According to an order by Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) PK Jena, both the guidelines for Covid-19 and Panchayat elections will remain in force till February 28. However, the night curfew timing in urban areas has been relaxed by an hour. Now, the night curfew will be enforced in urban areas from 10.00pm to 5.00am.
All types of shops, malls, shopping complexes, markets/haats, cinemas, swimming pools, entertainment complexes, theatres, auditoriums, assembly halls and similar places can remain open across the state from 5.00am to 10.00pm everyday.
Home delivery of food, groceries, vegetables, egg, fish, meat, milk and other essential items by restaurants and aggregators such as Zomato, Swiggy, OPOLFED, OMFED and Chilika Fresh, among others have been allowed. Religious functions, puja and festivities like Saraswati Puja, festivals namely Magha Saptami/Magha Purnima will be observed/celebrated in February, 2022.
Saraswati Puja can be observed with all rituals in the temples and religious places without participation of devotees. Saraswati Puja will be allowed in educational institutions with participation of a limited number of students observing Covid-19 appropriate behaviour, Jena said in the order. However, no Saraswati Puja will be allowed to be celebrated in public places other than in schools and educational institutions, he said.
It should be stated here that the daily infection rate is dipping in Odisha. The state reported Monday 3,329 new Covid-19 cases and 18 fatalities. In the past three-four days there has been a steady decline in the number of new cases.