Odisha's Ganjam District Imposes Total Lockdown till June 30 Due to Spurt in Covid-19 Cases

Worried over a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases in Ganjam, the administration on Sunday announced complete lockdown in the district till the end of June in an effort to break the chain of infection, an official said.

Ganjam is at present on top of the COVID-19 list of the state after reporting 682 cases, of which 595 persons have recovered and six died, the official said.

"The move aims at containing the possibility of spread of COVID-19 to the community," said Ganjam District Collector Vijay Amruta Kulange.

The lockdown restrictions will be in place for 19 hours a day till June 30, he said.

There will be relaxation of the restrictions from 7 am to 12 noon when people can step outside their homes for essential purposes.

Shops have been permitted to remain open during those five hours, the official said.

The district administration was till now allowing people to venture outside their homes from 7 am to 7 pm.

Before imposing total lockdown, the administration has taken feedback from different sections of the people, including elected representatives, social activists and others, the collector said.

During the period, essential services like medicine shops will be allowed to remain open, while vehicles from railway stations and hospitals can operate. Banks and government offices will function as usual, he said.

People will be allowed to carry out livelihood programmes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and agriculture-related works, he added.

Transport services, including motorbike, car, and bus services would be prohibited from plying during the period, he said.

Ganjam which had remained a green zone till May 1 without any novel coronavirus patient, reported a rise in the number of cases with the influx of migrant workers, who returned from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Migrant workers started arriving to the coastal state since April 28 and over two lakh migrants have returned so far.

After returning, they are placed under quarantine in temporary medical centers (TMC) and then in home isolation.

Around one lakh people are now under home quarantine after completing their institutional quarantine, he said.