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With COVID19 cases piling up in Odisha, the State government today announced weekend shutdown in a bid to break the chain of transmission.

  Pet wild boar, ‘Dhuda,’ whose separation & reunion from a family in Purusottampur village under Telkoi Block of Keonjhar district made headlines recently, has been missing since Monday (April 12). Kuntala Kumari Penthei, who petted Dhuda as her own child, suspects that the animal might have been killed by someone. Sources said that earlier on Monday morning, Kuntala and her daughter Rajashree had left for Angul. However after their arrival, when Dhuda did not turn up in the evening for food, they launched a search but to no avail. Kuntala’s family members also suspect that some miscreant might have killed their pet. Kuntala has informed the Forest Department officials about the disappearance of Dhuda. The Forest Department is yet to conduct investigation regarding the wild boar’s disappearance from the village.

As Odisha continues to grapple with rising Coronavirus infections, the state government today announced night curfew in all urban areas while extending the timings of curfew in urban areas of the 10 districts bordering the state of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

After putting all board exams on hold, the Odisha government has announced suspension of classes for standard 10 & 12 students. Clear instructions have been issued to ensure that no academic work is undertaken in the educational institutions. As per the directives, the suspension of classes will be across all schools under the Board of Secondary Education (BSE), Odisha Adarsh Vidyalaya Sangathan, government and non-aided and private schools in the State. The hostels in these institutions will also remain closed. Amid rising COVID-19 cases in state, Odisha Government has put on hold the STD X and XII board exams in the state. This decision was taken keeping in mind the health risk to students amid rising positive cases of COVID-19 in state. The Class X or matriculation examination which was scheduled to begin from May 3 has been put on hold. In an official release, the government also informed that the Class XII board examination which was scheduled to be held from May 18 has also been put on hold for the time being. According to the official release, the state government and the concerned board will review the situation in the first week of June 2021. The students will be provided sufficient time for preparation and will be informed beforehand regarding the dates of examination. In another major decision, the Class IX and XI students of the academic year 2020-21 will be promoted to the next classes.

Notorious gangster Sheikh Hyder who had escaped from SCB Medical College and Hospital last week was finally nabbed from Telangana’s Sangareddy district on Thursday (April 15). Twin city Police Commissioner Saumendra Priyadarshi informed that a special team of Cuttack Police arrested the fugitive convict from Sangareddy with the help of Telangana Police. Hyder was travelling on a bike when a motorcycle-borne police team of Cuttack district with the help of Telangana police caught hold of him.

In view of the rapid surge of COVID-19 infections amid the second wave of the pandemic, the Central government has decided to postpone the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET PG) 2021. On Thursday, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that the decision to postpone the NEET PG 2021 exam was taken due to the surge in COVID cases and keeping the wellbeing of the students in mind. Through a tweet, the minister informed that NEET PG 2021 exam which was earlier scheduled to be held on April 18 has been postponed and the next date will be decided later. Apart from this, the final result of the examination, which is the eligibility cum entrance examination for admission to MD/MS/PG Diploma Courses for the academic session 2021 under various Universities/ Institutions in the country, was likely to be announced by May 31. It is noteworthy to mention that a group of MBBS doctors had approached the Supreme Court seeking the postponement of the NEET-PG exams. In the plea, the petitioners mentioned that compelling doctors who are treating COVID-19 patients on a daily basis to attend a physical exam will be equivalent to putting the lives of thousands of people on peril.

The second wave of Covid-19 pandemic is spreading like wildfire in Odisha. The state recorded another grim milestone with 3,108 positive cases in the past 24 hours, which is the highest single-day surge in 2021. One person each from Ganjam, Bolangir and Sambalpur district succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours. As per the information released by the State Information And Public Relations (I&PR) Department, out of the new cases, a total of 1,806 cases were reported from quarantine centres while the rest 1,302 were local transmission cases. Khordha led the tally with highest number of 534 Covid-19 cases while Sundargarh is next in the list with 523 cases. This was followed by Cuttack with 163 positive cases, Nabarangpur recorded 156 cases, Sambalpur recorded 153 cases, Balasore 151 cases, Nuapada 140 cases, Bargarh 132 cases, Bolangir 133 cases, Puri 114 cases and Keonjhar recorded 105 new SARS-COV cases during the period. With the inclusion of Friday’s figure, the number of total positive cases in the state surged to 3,61,450 while 1,938 have succumbed to the disease till date. As many as 3,42,570 patients have been cured or recovered so far from the infection. The active cases in Odisha stood at 16,889 on Friday (April 16), said the Health and Family Welfare Department.

In view of the rising cases of coronavirus in the state, the dedicated COVID beds in SCB Hospital in Cuttack has been increased to 315. SCB Emergency Officer Bhubanananda Moharana informed that the number of beds at dedicated Covid hospital at SCB has been increased to 315 including 63 ICUs. The bed strength was recently increased to 250, and it was again increased due to an alarming rise in Covid positive cases in Odisha. Cuttack district has recorded 371 positive cases of coronavirus in last 2 days, almost 208 cases on Wednesday and 163 positives the next day.

A day after nabbing notorious gangster Sheikh Hyder from Sangareddy in Telangana, Commissionerate Police brought the criminal back to Odisha on Friday (April 16). The gangster was taken to Cuttack after undergoing a Covid-19 test at Bhubaneswar airport. Speaking exclusively to OTV, Twin City Police Commissioner said that Hyder has been brought to Odisha on a transit remand and a probe will be initiated to ascertain the role of the persons who helped him escape from SCB hospital.

In an unfortunate incident, two workers engaged in manual scavenging of sewage tank in CDA Sector-10 area of Cuttack died due to suspected asphyxiation. On Thursday, three workers who were engaged in the cleaning work got trapped inside a sewerage line. Soon after the incident, the fire services personnel rushed to the spot and rescued them in a critical condition. The three workers were then admitted to SCB Medical College and Hospital. However, doctors at the hospital declared two of them as brought dead. The deceased have been identified as P Shankar of Patapur and Bishnu Nayak of Baramba in Cuttack district. According to locals, the workers entered the sewage tank without oxygen masks and other protective equipment which led to the mishap.

Surpassing its highest daily cases and death toll, India has set a record for the number of coronavirus infections and the virus-related deaths in a single day. The country witnessed 2,17,353 new coronavirus infections on Friday (April 16). After the detection of the fresh cases, India’s total tally of COVID-19 positive cases reached an alarming 1,42,91,917. The active cases in the country breached the 15 lakh mark to reach 15,69,743 on Friday. As per the information provided by the Union Health Ministry, the country recorded a total of 1,18,302 discharges while as many as 1,185 persons died of Covid-19 in last 24 hours. Currently, the death toll in the country stands at 1,74,308. Around 1.25 crore people have been cured or have recovered from the infection. As per latest reports, 11.7 Crore people have been vaccinated in the country so far. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 26,34,76,625 samples have been tested up to April 15 with 14,73,210 samples being tested on Thursday (April 15).

COVID19 cases in Odisha continue to surge, with the state touching record highs each passing day. Odisha Health & Family Welfare Director Bijay Panigrahi informed on Friday (April 16) that the Covid-19 virus is mostly affecting youths and spreading faster during the second wave as compared to the first wave. Similarly, Head of Directorate of Medical Education & Training (DMET), Odisha, Prof CBK Mohanty, also cautioned the people about the fast spreading-nature of the infection among the younger population.

As the whole country grapples with rising COVID19 infections, a shocking video has emerged from Andhra Pradesh showing how COVID19 norms were blatantly violated.

After putting on hold all board exams on account of COVID19, the Odisha government may hold UG and PG exams online.

With rapid surge in COVID19 positive cases, the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration on Friday released a new Standard operating procedure (SOP) for darshan and rituals at the Srimandir. According to the new guidelines, the Lord Jagannath Temple will remain closed every Saturday and Sunday, in view of the rapid rise in positive cases of Coronavirus in state. The restriction will come into force from April 24, the temple administration informed. A discussion in this regard was held at the Chhatisa Nijog meeting on Friday. Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Chief Administrator Krishan Kumar presided over the meeting in which Collector Samarth Verma, SP Kanwar Vishal Singh, Nijog members and representatives of various temple servitors nijogs were also present. A decision was taken to make it mandatory for people from outside state to produce negative RT-PCR report or report of taking both the doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Earlier, the temple used to remain shut only on Sundays, but as per the new guidelines, the temple will remain closed for two days in a week on Saturdays and Sundays.