Coronavirus lockdown: Odisha government announces 2-weeks lockdown from May 5-19 amid COVID-19 surge

New Delhi, May 02: In a recent development, Odisha government has announced a 14-day lockdown from May 5 to 19 amid surge in coronavirus cases. Odisha recorded 8,015 new COVID-19 cases, 5,634 recoveries and related 14 deaths in the last 24 hours, the state health department said on Sunday.

With this, the total number of confirmed cases in Odisha has increased to 4,62,622 of which 3,91,048 have recovered and 2,068 have died due to the infection. Of the fresh cases, 4,568 were detected among people in quarantine and 3,447 were local contacts, the bulletin further said.

The Odisha government had earlier announced that it will provide incentives to health care professionals on COVID-19 duty working under the Health and Family Welfare (H&FW) Department for the period of April to July this year.

Earlier, Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik had announced free vaccination against COVID-19 for all citizens of the state in the age group of 18 to 44 years. The state government will spend Rs 2,000 crore on this vaccination drive, said the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).

Odisha requires about 10.34 lakh Covaxin doses to inoculate about 5 lakh eligible people living in the BMC area, while the requirement of Covishield is 3.77 crore doses.

"Once Covishield vaccines reach, the government will plan the third phase vaccination across the state," an official said, adding that the state has the capability to inoculate 3 to 4 lakh people every day.