Puri: The district administration has decided not to allow cremation of bodies at Swargadwar from outside Puri beginning Monday.
The authorities also decided to stop people from performing death rituals at Mahodadhi and Swetganga from April 26.
The decision was taken keeping in view of a surge in Covid cases in the district.
Sources said that the district administration is worried after reports of triple mutants of Covid were detected in the neighbouring West Bengal and asked the hoteliers as well as guesthouse owners not to entertain visitors from West Bengal without Covid negative certificates or final vaccination certificate.
The district authorities have been inspecting hotels and holiday homes and examining their travel documents. Registration of passengers coming by train is being done at Puri railway station while visitors coming by road in private vehicles are under strict watch.
Fire fighters with their gears were deployed at the Covid hospital and Covid care centres to prevent fire mishaps. Srimandir complex has been sanitised.
The weekend shutdown and the measures taken by the authorities to check the spread of the virus has yielded promising results as the fresh corona positive cases have come down to 180 Sunday as against 396 Saturday, said an official.
PNN