Bhubaneswar: Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradeep Jena on Sunday warned people against circulating fake news about lockdown and unlock orders and creating confusion among the public.
In a series of tweets, he clarified that the Odisha government has not issued any guidelines for lockdown/unlock effective from June 17.
“Whatever is circulating in social media is fake. All are requested not to be misled by such news. The SRC office will issue appropriate guidelines at an appropriate time,” he wrote.
He also requested DGP Abhay to look into such fake news. “Some action is required against such sources for creating confusion/panic among the public,” he added.
Odisha is under lockdown till June 17 to break the COVID infection chain and speculation is rife about the government initiating an unlock process thereafter in districts with a test positivity rate (TPR) below 5 per cent.
Director, Health Services, Bijay Mohapatra had told the media on June 12 that the government will take a decision on relaxing the restrictions in 10 western Odisha districts and two in south Odisha, where TPR had dropped below 5 per cent, after a thorough review.
The districts are Sundargarh (4.9), Jharsuguda (1.2), Sambalpur (2.4), Deogarh (2.6), Bargarh (4.2), Sonepur (2), Nuapada (1.4), Balangir (2.1), Kalahandi (2.8), Kandhamal (4.6), Ganjam (3.3) and Gajapati (3.7).
On May 30, the government had announced a slight relaxation in lockdown restrictions in three districts – Nuapada, Gajapati and Sundargarh – that had shown a consistent decline in cases.
The lockdown was imposed from 5-14 May. It was first extended to June 1 and subsequently for another 16 days till June 17.
