Bhubaneswar: In the wake of the highest ever single-day rise in Covid-19 cases in the state, the government Monday extended the weekend shutdown to all urban areas of the state from April 24. At present, weekend shutdown is in force in the urban areas of 10 districts sharing borders with Chhattisgarh.
The state Monday reported 4,445 fresh infections pushing the state’s tally to over 3.72 lakh while four more people died taking the toll due to Covid to 1,948. The previous daily high was recorded September 25 last year when the state reported 4,356 cases.
“In the interest of public health and containment of spread of Covid-19 in the state, weekend shutdown Saturday and Sunday shall be imposed in all urban areas of the stet from April 24,” Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) PK Jena said.
At the same time, night curfew will continue to be in force in all urban areas. The night curfew is being enforced in the urban areas of Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Bargarh, Bolangir, Nuapada, Kalahdndi, Nabarangpur, Koraput and Malkangiri from 6 pm to 5 am while the timing for urban areas of other districts is 9 pm to 5 am.
During the shutdown all activities excluding emergency and essential services will be closed. The shutdown will continue to remain in force till May 15.
Medical services, nursing homes, medicine stores, telecom services, petrol pumps, LPG distribution, industrial establishments, factories, construction activities, agriculture and allied activities will continue to operate during the shutdown, Jena said.
Similarly, he said, movement of district & municipal officials, media persons, police, fire services, central & state government officials on emergency duty, water supply, sanitation & sewerage workers and goods & goods carriers, rail, air transport, road transport on highways have been permitted.
Movement of public transport, private vehicles and taxis (including cabs by aggregators like Ola, Uber) to and from airports, railway stations and bus terminals for facilitating movement of passengers has been allowed by the government.
The government has allowed service sector industries including IT/ITeS, hotel & hospitality units, home delivery of foods, groceries, vegetables and essential items by restaurants and aggregators such as Zomato, Swiggy to operate during the shutdowns.
ATMs & critical financial institutions like RBI and clearing houses will continue to function as usual. Dhabas along the highways and major roads are allowed to operate for takeaway only.
Milk booths and related activities will continue. Food and grocery stores such as Reliance Fresh, Big Bazaar, Chilika Fresh and others have been permitted to operate for home delivery only. Newspaper hawkers are allowed to distribute papers between 5 am and 8 am.
The government has also allowed marriages and funeral events with prior permission of the local authorities. However, more regulations have been imposed for holding such social events.
The SRC said in any case, the number of persons allowed in a marriage function shall not exceed 50 (for the entire event) including hosts, guests, priests and catering and other support staff.
In case of funerals, the ceiling on number of persons including host and family members, guests, priests and other support staff will be 20. In no circumstances, the number of participants will exceed the ceilings, he said.
“No marriage procession shall be allowed. In case of violations of this condition, the vehicles and equipment and accessories used in the procession will be seized and criminal actions taken against the hosts/owners of the band/ light and sound service provider initiated,” Jena warned.
Now, the organiser will have to submit the list of participants to the local authorities at least 24 hours before the event. The said list will also be fixed at prominent locations of the venue which can be easily read by public from a distance of 10 feet.