Lockdown, Shutdown Not Enforced To Protect Livelihoods: Odisha Chief Secretary 

Strict restrictions like general lockdown and shutdown have not been enforced in Odisha so far in the prevailing third wave of the Covid pandemic in order to protect the livelihoods of people, the State government said on Wednesday. 

Addressing the people on Covid situation, Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra said, “At present, Covid cases are rapidly rising across India due to Omicron variant. When the third wave hit Odisha, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik stressed on prioritising livelihoods of people. Accordingly the Covid guidelines have been designed to control the spread of the infections without disrupting the livelihoods of people.”     

“COVID19 restrictions in this third wave of the Covid pandemic have been devised to protect livelihoods. Hence, there has been no general lockdown or shutdown,” he said. 

Mohapatra said due to everyone's cooperation, the State has been able to tackle the virus spread from exploding out of control. He said the hospitalisation and ICU need of patients are less as compared to second wave. About 2 per cent of the active cases are requiring hospitalisation

Stating that the coming days are very crucial, the CS urged the people not to panic and religiously follow Covid19 guidelines. 

“COVID infection is rising rapidly and the State is averaging around 10,000 to 11,000 daily infections for past one week. We cannot let our guard down, because the cases will rise further if we do not become careful,” he said.