The Odisha government has declared a 48-hour total shutdown in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Bhadrak from 8pm on Friday following a rise in the number of Covid-19 cases, taking rapid action to counter possible early signs of community spread.
Odisha has reported 20 cases of coronavirus infection, of which 14 are from Bhubaneswar, one each in Cuttack, Puri and Jaipur and three in Bhadrak. Fifteen new cases have been reported in the past 24 hours.
Only a few medicine shops designated by the government will be allowed to remain open. All other shops, vegetable markets, grocery outlets and fish and meat stores will remain closed. Patients will be allowed to travel to hospitals only in ambulances. Employees of emergency services will be the only ones allowed outside.
All travel passes issued in view of the nationwide lockdown stand suspended, and fresh passes will be issued by designated Odisha officials for the 48-hour period.
Chief secretary Asit Kumar Tripathy said: “Considering the spike in cases all over India and the fear of community transmission looming large in the state after the discovery of the fifth coronavirus-positive case who had no travel history, we have decided to go for a lockdown in Bhubaneswar.”
Tripathy tweeted later, but before more cases were reported: “In view of the fact that one resident of Cuttack has been found positive for Covid-19, Cuttack city is being included under shutdown for 48 hours from 8pm from today till 8pm on Sunday.”
Bhadrak, where a person with a travel history to Dubai is among the three who have tested positive, will also be under total lockdown.
Explaining the reasons behind the complete shutdown, the Odisha government said in a media note: “In order to contain community infection and to aggressively trace the contacts of the 5th and 6th Covid-19-positive patients and to intensify testing, the government of Odisha has ordered total shutdown for the next 48 hours.”
The sixth person is a Cuttack resident who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi’s Nizamuddin last month.
“From among 27 returnees from Hazrat Nizamuddin, seven persons are foreigners. So far, 21 people from this lot have tested negative and one positive case (in Cuttack) has been detected. The (test) report of five persons have not been received yet,” said Subroto Bagchi, the chief spokesperson for the Odisha government.
He added: “This apart, 40 people from Odisha who attended the Nizamuddin event are in quarantine centres in Andhra Pradesh, Bengal, Bihar and Delhi. We have come to know that 10 Bengal residents who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event had visited Talcher (in Odisha) after returning from Delhi. These 10 persons have been identified and the people with whom they came in contact in Talcher are being traced.”