Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Tuesday declared lockdown in all 30 districts across the state to check the spread of Covid-19 pandemic. The state has so far reported two positive cases.
The decision was taken after chief secretary Asit Tripathy held a meeting on Tuesday morning with all district collectors.
The lockdown will remain in force till March 29, Subroto Bagchi, Odisha government’s chief spokesperson on Covid-19, said.
“The Covid-19 has not yet reached its peak. This is just the beginning. As per an estimate, the figure in India may reach 58,643 in May. In Odisha, nearly 2,345 persons are likely to be affected if the disease is not contained at the earliest. Hence, it is time we all cooperated to check the disease by keeping ourselves indoors,” Mr Bagchi added.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, in a video message on Tuesday evening, appealed to the people to take an oath to keep themselves confined to their homes and protect the lives of their family members.
Launching “Mo Jeevan” (my life)” programme, Mr Patnaik in a video message said, “I urge you all to take an oath with your family to maintain social distancing to defeat Covid-19. Please share the video clips with me.”
Earlier on Monday, the state government extended the lockdown from five to 14 districts across the state.
The state government has allowed private organisations working in coordination with the state government to function. Also, banks and ATMs have been allowed to continue their operations with 10 per cent of their total workforce as per the government advisory issued to them earlier.
