Bhubaneswar: The State Government on Wednesday announced that night curfew will be imposed from 9 pm to 5 am in all urban areas of the State. To check the spread of COVID-19 and the situation in the wake of new variant of Coronavirus, Omicron, the State Government has decided to shut down physical classes for all schools and colleges, Special Relief Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Jena said on Wednesday.
“We need to be very cautious right from the get go or else, we might face grave situations. Even those who have taken double dose of COVID vaccine are getting infected. However, the impact of the infection is less for those who are vaccinated,” said Jena.
The ongoing summative or assessment examination for Std X students will continue till January 8, but after that all schools will be strictly closed for offline classes. However, online classes will continue. “All State Government offices will run with 50% staff. The GA department will come up with a notification in this regard,” said Jena.
Social, religious gatherings will be closed while academic, political and sports gatherings will be allowed with maximum 100 persons. However, if these are conducted indoors, the number of persons should not be more than 50% of the capacity. For marriage and thread ceremony total 100 persons will be allowed and in Baraat a maximum 30 persons are allowed. Similarly, for funeral ceremony, 50 persons will be allowed.
No excretion and picnics will be allowed and picnic spots will be completely restricted. For temples, the local district administration will impose necessary restrictions. Hotel, restaurant, dhaba, pubs and similar outlets can operate with 50% seating capacity.
For shopping malls, market complex and roadside eateries, the owner will be responsible to check the crowd. If the premises is found to be crowded, local administration will shut it for at least 7 days. Similarly, cinema halls and multiplexes will run at 50% capacity from January 6 onwards, till further notice, the SRC said.
The transmission of Omicron variant is around 3 times more than the Delta variant. The cases are rapidly increasing in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and a few other states. Today India has reported more than 58,000 cases while Odisha has reported 1,280 cases on Wednesday which is 79% more than the numbers in the State on Tuesday, Jena added.
