Odisha Govt To Announce September COVID Guidelines Today; What To Expect?

Bhubaneswar: With the July 31 COVID-19 guidelines ending in less than 24 hours, the Odisha government is likely to announce the new norms for September on Tuesday.

According to official sources, a meeting of senior government officials is currently on to decide the guidelines for the next month.

Considering the rising number of children getting infected by COVID and the upcoming festive season, the government, however, is unlikely to announce more relaxations in the ongoing partial lockdown.

While Odisha has been reporting less than 1000 new COVID cases since August 20 with the test positivity rate hovering around 1 per cent, the high infection rate in the 0-18 age group is slowly turning into a concern. Among the new cases (638) detected in the last 24 hours, 17 per cent were children and adolescents. 

Around 40 in the age group have lost their lives to the deadly disease in the second wave with a two-month-old baby of Khurda district being the latest victim.

The high caseload in Khurda and Cuttack also continues to be a sore point. Khurda is in the red zone with 2815 active cases. The remaining 29 districts are in the green zone with Cuttack (845) and Balasore (475) leading the tally.

Notably, 3255 of the total 7255 active cases are from Bhubaneswar.

Also Read: Weekend Shutdown To Continue In 3 Odisha Cities; Malls & Cinema Hall To Reopen With Rider

Currently, the weekend shutdown is being imposed in three cities – Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri while night curfew starts at 8 pm across the state. The government has allowed for the opening of most facilities with a few restrictions and with strict adherence to the COVID protocols. Religious places are also slowly reopening.

The traders’ organisations, especially in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri, have demanded the lifting of the weekend shutdown while Jatra artists have urged the government to relax the night curfew as it had adversely affected their livelihood despite them being allowed to hold shows.

However, the weekend shutdown is likely to continue in September and there will not be much change in COVID management guidelines, the sources added.