BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Government on Saturday announced night curfew in 10 bordering districts from April 5 to stem the spread of Covid-19.
Special Relief Commissioner PK Jena said night curfew will remain in force in Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Bargarh, Balangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, Koraput, and Malkangiri districts till further orders.
The night curfew has been imposed in most of the bordering districts where the government believes infection count has gone up due to the resurgence of Covid in neighbouring Chhattisgarh.
All shops, commercial establishments, offices, institutions will remain closed and the movement of individuals will be restricted between 10 pm and 5 am every day until further orders, he said.
Jena said district collectors may also impose additional restrictions or allow activities depending on the local situation.
Odisha reported 452 new COVID cases from 28 districts in the last 24 hours of which more than 50 per cent of cases were from these 10 districts. Though Khurda topped the list with 77 cases, western and southern districts such as Sundargarh (75), Nuapada (71), Kalahandi (29), Bargarh (19), Jharsuguda (17), Balangir (15) and Ganjam (13) showed a collective resurgence.
Active cases remained highest at Khurda (473) followed by districts bordering Chhattisgarh such as Nuapada (332) followed by Sundargarh (307), Kalahandi (243), Bargarh (220) and Jharsuguda (77). The new confirmed infections have pushed the active case tally of the state to 2,820.
The night curfew has returned to these districts after a gap of seven months. The curfew that was in place along with weekend shutdowns across the State till August 2020 had been lifted from September onwards as part of the Unlock 4 guidelines to get the economy and normal activities back on track.
However, after an increase in the daily infection count, Malkangiri became the first district to re-impose it last month.
The restrictions, the government said, will not be applicable to doctors and paramedical staff, emergency workers of electricity, fire services, telecom,
water supply, railways, airport and transport services as well as municipal administration officials and police on duty.
The government has allowed construction activities and operation of industrial units as usual in this period. Home delivery of food, groceries, vegetables, and other essential items has also been allowed. Besides, there will be no restriction on public and private transport services including OLA and Uber.
The government, however, has asked the district police/commissionerates to identify the print and electronic media houses to allow movement of their staff during this period.