Odisha Chef Secy To Announce July ‘Unlock’ Guidelines Today

Bhubaneswar: Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra is likely to announce July lockdown/unlock guidelines at around 2.30 pm on Wednesday.

According to sources, partial lockdown is likely to continue in the state with more restrictions in districts having more active cases and higher test positivity rate (TPR).

While reviewing the COVID situation, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik asked the districts in RED zone to ensure stricter implementation of the COVID guidelines. While the state has been reported a TPR of less than 5 per cent for the last two days, some districts continue to report a high daily positivity rate.

Balasore and Malkangiri are in the RED zone with a TPR of 13.5 per cent and 7.5 per cent respectively. Except for Khurda, Cuttack, Nayagarh, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Dhenkanal, Mayurbhanj and Bhadrak, which are in the ORANGE zone, the rest 20 districts are in the GREEN zone with a TPR of less than 5 per cent.

In active cases, Khurda (5239), Cuttack (3921), Balasore (2988) and Jajpur (2692) are in the RED zone. As many as 21 districts are in GREEN ZONE with less than 1000 active cases and the rest in the ORANGE zone.

The CM also asked the officials to ramp up vaccination during the next three months to strengthen the fight against the pandemic.

After remaining under lockdown for 56 days, the people of Odisha are expecting further relaxation in the restrictions from July 1.

If official sources are to be believed, most of the ongoing curbs are likely to end in the next 24 hours. The state government is likely to ease the restrictions and take the pressure off livelihood sources by allowing all non-essential shops and business establishments across the districts to operate till 7 pm.

Certain restrictions, however, will continue with Rath yatra round the corner.

Also Read: Odisha Likely To Unlock Further From July 1