Odisha govt announces shutdown in 11 districts on Saturdays, Sundays

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Monday announced to enforce two-day shutdown in 11 districts every week for a period of one month in view of the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the districts.

11 districts of Odisha – Ganjam, Puri, Nayagarh, Khurda, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore and Balangir – will remain shut on Saturdays and Sundays till the end of June, said Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy.

As around 95 percent cases are reported from different quarantine centres in these districts, the state government decided to restrict movement of people during weekends to tackle and contain spread of infections in community level.

However, essential services will be excluded from the shutdown norms.