COVID-19: Ahead of Centre's call, Odisha extends lockdown till Apr 30
Bhubaneswar/IBNS: Ahead of the Centre's call on the extension of the nationwide anti-COVID-19 lockdown, the Odisha government on Thursday set Apr 30 as the due date for the lifting of the shutdown in the eastern state of India.
The nationwide lockdown, which was called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stem the spread of the deadly Novel Coronavirus, is scheduled to end on Apr 14 midnight.
Announcing the lockdown, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said as quoted by media, "During ongoing lockdown period amid Covid-19 crisis, your discipline and sacrifice has provided us the strength to fight Covid-19."
"At this crucial juncture, one has to decide between protecting the lives of people and economic activity. We will recommend to Government of India to extend the national lockdown up to April 30. In addition to this, we will also request the Union Government not to start airline and railway services till April 30," a government statement has said.
The state government has said activities related to agriculture, animal husbandry and MGNREGS will be conducted during the lockdown period following the social distancing norms.
All educational institutions in the state will remain shut till Jun 17.
Odisha Cabinet headed by CM @Naveen_Odisha decided to extend the state lockdown till April 30th & recommended Union Government to extend the national lockdown till then. CM requested the GoI not to start train & air services during the lockdown. #OdishaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/2hjTGqR0y6
— CMO Odisha (@CMO_Odisha) April 9, 2020
While 5,734 people have been infected across the country, Odisha has reported 42 positive cases including two cured and one death.
The Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday ordered a complete shutdown in 15 districts of the state till Apr 13.
The 15 districts are Lucknow, Agra, Ghaziabad, Gautambudh Nagar (Noida), Kanpur, Varanasi, Shamli, Meerut, Bareilly, Bulandshahar, Firozabad, Maharajganj, Sitapur, Saharanpur and Basti.
Though the Centre was not keen to extend the 21-day lockdown which began on Mar 25, at least six states have urged the union government to increase the lockdown period to save people's lives amid the COVID-19 threat.
Maintaining suspense, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called a meeting with all the Chief Ministers on Saturday to take a call on the extension of the lockdown.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said he was in favour of the extension of the lockdown to save the lives.
"We can recover from the economic problem. But, we cannot get back lost lives," Rao told media.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, "We can bear the lockdown. We can also revive economy but we cannot get back the lost lives."
Rajasthan, Punjab are also among the states which have favoured the extension of the shut down that has impacted hard on daily wagers and migrant workers.
(Image Credit: Naveen Patnaik Twitter)
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