Rajendra Prasad Mohapatra

Rayagada: A joint enforcement squad of the Rayagada district administration and police sealed a cinema hall in the city for allegedly violating Covid-19 guidelines, on Friday.

According to reports, the squad allegedly found Ashok Cinema hall  flouting the pandemic safety protocols during a check at its premises on Friday morning. Later they sealed the hall and issued a show cause notice to the manager.

Meanwhile, tightening the screw on the enforcement of Covid-19 norms in the city, the Rayagada police on Thursday collected a hefty fine of Rs 2,24,900 from 204 persons violating social distancing norms. Similarly, Rs 99,100 has been collected from 192 defaulters for not wearing mask in public places.

“We intensified raids at various places where Covid-19 norms were violated and penalised people by levying heavy fines. We appeal people to maintain all Covid-19 norms including wearing of masks and maintaining social distancing,” said a police official.

Meanwhile, in the highest single-day rise this year the Covid-19 tally in Odisha jumped to 3,46,808 on Friday when 1,282 more people tested positive for the infection. The death toll rose to 1924 with the passing away of a patient in Ganjam district in the last 24 hours.

Sundargarh reported the highest 224 cases followed by Khorhda (192), Kalahandi (108), Bargarh (84), Sambalpur (82), Nuapada (82), Cuttack (63), Mayurbhanj (52), Angul (49) and Bolangir (45).

With the inclusion of Friday’s figure, the number of active coronavirus cases in the State surged to 5941 while 3,38,890 patients have recovered from the disease.

scrollToTop