Coronavirus Update: Odisha Govt Shuts Down All Religious Places for Devotees

Bhubaneswar: Stepping its preparedness to combat Coronavirus (COVID-19), the Odisha Government has restricted access of devotees and general public to religious institutions across the State from tomorrow till April 1.

Informing about the preventive measures to check the spread of killer disease, the State Government’s Chief Spokesperson on COVID-19, Subroto Bagchi said that all religious places, such as temples, mosques, Churches and Gurudwaras, will remain closed for the devotees from March 20 to April 1.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, Bagchi said, “The State Government has issued an advisory on religious institutions yesterday. The District Administration of Puri has issued directions restricting access of the general public to Sri Jagannath Temple from tomorrow till 1st April.”

After careful consideration, the Government has urged the District Magistrates to enforce similar restrictions in all religious places i.e. temples, mosques, Churches and Gurudwaras etc, he said.

However, essential rituals at the religious places will continue as usual, he added.

He further said that so far, cumulatively 61 samples tested, 60 negative and 1 positive case was found. Yesterday 5 samples were tested and all were negative.

All district headquarters hospitals (DHHs) and Medical College hospitals have isolation facilities available.

“Currently, 3183 isolation beds are in readiness across the State in Government and private hospitals,” Bagchi said.

Talking about the registration on government’s COVID-19 portal, he said that in the last 24 hours, 104 Health Helpline has received12,268 calls.

So far, about 2,600 registrations up to 2 PM on the 19th have been made, about persons with travel history abroad, he added.

In Urban areas 450 buildings have been identified as centres to accommodate 51,160 persons, Bagchi stated.