PURI: Over 50,000 devotees turned up for darshan of the Trinity in Sri Jagannath temple which reopened on Monday after remaining closed for three days to avoid New Year rush.
The 12th-century shrine was closed since December 31 to avoid big crowds around the New Year amid rising cases of Omicron. The temple opened at 3 am and servitors performed Mangal alati, Mailum, Abakash before offering Gopal Bhog. Thereafter, public darshan was allowed at 4.30 am.
Police and temple security personnel ensured that devotees adhered to the Covid safety guidelines while in queues. After furnishing complete vaccination certificate or RT-PCR negative report at the counters, devotees were allowed to enter the shrine wearing double masks and maintaining social distance. The darshan continued till 9 pm.
On the day, new Odisha DGP Sunil Kumar Bansal along with his wife, ADG RK Sharma, IGP Narasingh Bhol and Puri SP K Vishal Singh visited the Sri Jagannath temple and offered prayers to Lord Jagannath.
Meanwhile, the district administration declared the area around Hotel Sona International in Ward no 11 as micro containment zone after detection of three Omicron cases. Puri Collector Samarth Verma said swab sample of an infected tourist was sent for genome sequencing. The report came positive but by then, the visitor had left for Kolkata. This apart, reports of two hotel employees also came positive.
The administration has collected swab samples of all the inmates and hotel staff and sent those to lab for genome sequencing. All of them have been asked to remain in hotel till their test reports arrive. Verma said the Kolkata administration has been informed about the infected patient.
In view of the rise in Covid cases, the administration has deployed health workers to screen tourists at the railway station and bus stand. As many as 10 mobile squads have been engaged in inspecting hotels, restaurants, guesthouses and dharmashalas to ensure strict adherence to the SOP on Covid-19.