Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government announced Friday that Twin Cities Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Bhadrak will be completely shut down for 48 hours beginning Friday at 8.00pm to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
Except for some medicine shops in these two cities, all other establishments will remain closed for the 48 hours. The district administration will decide which medicine shops will remain open.
Meanwhile, in view of the smooth arrangements for availability of medicines in Bhubaneswar, the BMC has decided to keep open a few medicine stores. Police will allow people to visit the shops only if they have proper prescriptions.
Following are the medicine shops that are allowed to remain open during the 48 hours lockdown:
“All the coronavirus cases detected in Odisha have either been from Bhubaneswar or from Bhadrak. Hence the decision has been taken to completely shut down these two cities for 48 hours,” Odisha Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy told reporters here.
In a development later in the day, a sixth COVID-19 positive case was reported. The man had a travel history to Delhi. In view of this development, the government has also decided to impose the 48-hour shutdown in Cuttack beginning 8.00pm Friday.
The chief secretary also said that such a step is being taken to break the chain of the disease. “The fifth COVID-19 case was detected in Bhubaneswar a couple of days back while the fourth patient is from Bhadrak. The complete shutdown will help our surveillance team in contact tracing the persons who have come in contact with these two patients,” informed Asit Tripathy.
Odisha Director General of Police (DGP) Abhaya who was also present at the press conference said that all vehicle passess issued by the police in these two towns will remain suspended for the 48 hours. He however, assured people not to resort to panic buying as the shutdown is only for 48 hours. Abhaya also informed that there will be no restriction in movement of good vehicles in these two cities during the complete shutdown.