Religious Places In Ganjam To Remain Shut Till Jan 31

The Ganjam district administration has announced that all the religious places in the district will remain out of bounds for devotees from January 9 in view of the rising cases of Covid-19.

Temples, mosques, and churches will remain closed till January 31. However, rituals can be conducted while strictly adhering to the COVID-19 precautionary measures.

Ganjam Collector Vijay Amruta said the preventive measure was taken to curb the spread of the virus due to gatherings in religious places.

Amruta further said that unvaccinated people will not be allowed into malls and other such places. "We will also implement the Covid norms of the State government like no feast in open places strictly," said the collector.

"We want to minimise non-essential activities to contain the spread of the infection. So, we have decided to close all the places of worship," said BeMC Commissioner, Siddheswar Baliram Bonder. 

Odisha registered 3,679 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, including 42 fresh positives in Ganjam district. 

Besides, 14 more cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 were also detected in the State on Saturday, taking the total infection to 75.

Meanwhile, the Puri district administration has already announced that the Jagannath temple will remain closed from January 10 till January 31.