COVID-19: Odisha govt restricts entry of visitors to State Secretariat to prevent spread

With 13 fresh cases on Wednesday, the tally in Bhubaneswar has risen to 345 so far. While 201 have recovered, four persons succumbed to the disease.
Civic body officials conducting household survey at Nayapalli in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday (Photo | EPS)
Civic body officials conducting household survey at Nayapalli in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday (Photo | EPS)

BHUBANESWAR: Wary of the spread of COVID-19, the Odisha government has restricted the entry of visitors to the State Secretariat at Bhubaneswar till July 31. The decision was taken following a steady rise in cases in different parts of the city.

Additional Secretary of the home department Saroj Kumar Mishra has urged all departments to keep in abeyance all passes issued to visitors for their respective offices in Lok Seva Bhawan, Kharavel Bhawan, Krushi Bhawan and Rajib Bhawan till the end of this month.

Any request for entry of outsiders and pass holders will only be entertained on the request from the office of the Secretaries of department concerned to the Special Secretary of the home department.

The restriction on entry of visitors to these offices has been imposed to minimise the number of people in offices and prevent spread of the infection.

With 13 fresh cases on Wednesday, the tally in the city has risen to 345 so far. While 201 have recovered, four persons succumbed to the disease.

Earlier, the General Administration and Public Grievances department had directed all departments and subordinate offices to function with 50 per cent of employees, including Group-A officers, in July.

The government has also issued guidelines for both government and private offices across the state to prevent COVID-19 infection in workplace settings and respond in a timely and effective manner in case any suspected case is detected.

The state has recorded 229 new cases and two deaths in the last 24 hours taking the total number of cases to 7545 and the death toll to 27.

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