The Odisha government on Wednesday announced a slew of new restrictions with a view to control the rapid surge in Covid cases, especially the highly-infectious Omicron variant of the virus, in the State.
Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradeep Jena said in a special video address that the fresh curbs which will be enforced strictly from January 7 (5 am) will continue till February 1(5 am).
SRC Jena stressed on the need for tighter control measures while explaining that Odisha and other states in the country are now set to witness a third wave of the pandemic.
As per the SRC, Odisha has recorded a whopping 79% rise in cases in a single day on January 4 and even many of those who are fully vaccinated have been found infected with the virus.
Here are the detailed restrictions announced by the Odisha government:-
- Night Curfew to be enforced from 9 pm instead of 10 pm at all Urban areas.
- All schools, colleges up to 10+2 standard shall be closed. Online classes can continue.
- All examinations including Summative Examination will continue.
- All Anganwadis shall be closed. Concerned Administrative Departments shall issue detail guidelines/ SOP in this regard
- All types of shops, malls, shopping complexes can remain open from 5.00 am to 9.00 pm everyday with reduced number of customers.
- Food court/ food plaza can open for take away only. No partaking of food in malls.
- Markets/Haats, cinema halls, swimming pools, entertainment complexes, theatres, auditoriums, assembly halls and similar places to close at 9.00 pm.
- Only doubly vaccinated persons to be allowed enter market complexes/shops/ malls. No more than four buyers to be allowed per 100sq feet of shop space.
- All Social/ Religious gatherings shall remain prohibited.
- Political/ sports/ academic functions and gatherings shall be allowed with a ceiling of 100 persons subject to the following conditions:
- In closed spaces, a maximum of 50% of the hall capacity will be allowed subject to the above ceiling.
- In open spaces, keeping the size of the ground/ open space in view, appropriate number of persons will be allowed, within the ceiling prescribed above.
- Haats and Markets including fish markets shall be decentralized and allowed to operate with minimum 30 feet distance from shop to shop.
- Any violation of COVID-19 protocols will attract closure/ sealing/ cancellation of license of the concerned shops for 7 days.
- Hotels/ Restaurants/ Dhabas/ Bars/ Pubs allowed for dine in up to 50% of the seating capacity.
- All offices (excluding Health & FW/ Police/ Fire Services/ Disaster Management and such other services dealing with emergency services) under the control and superintendence of Govt. of Odisha , Public undertakings/ corporations/ Societies/ Autonomous Bodies shall operate with 50% of the staff.
- In case of Central Govt/ other private establishments, the officers & staff of such establishments shall be encouraged to work from home as far as possible.
- A maximum of 50 people to be allowed for indoor and outdoor film shootings.
- A total of 30 people will be allowed in Marriage Processions and apart from wedding and reception all other rituals of marriage like haldi, mehendi are being banned.
- A maximum of 100 people will be allowed to participate in marriage and thread ceremonies while only 50 participants can take part in funeral events.
- People should be strictly made to adhere to queues at places like Nandankanan.
- The SRC announced that a maximum of 100 people will be allowed to participate in government official meeting or training programme.
- Cinema halls will have to run with 50% capacity while Jatra and open air theatres will operate with only 1000 spectators.