Odisha suspends COVID-19 vaccination in urban areas of 10 districts during weekend shutdown

The Odisha government on Friday suspended COVID-19 vaccination in the urban areas of 10 districts bordering Chhattisgarh during the weekend shutdown until further orders.

However, the vaccination will continue uninterruptedly in Rural areas of the district, an official statement read.

The state government has imposed weekend shutdown in all urban areas of 10 districts bordering Chhattisgarh including, Sundergarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Bargarh, Dolangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Nawarangpur, Koraput and Malkangiri districts from April 17

The Commissioner of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation on Friday said that a night curfew will be in effect in the city from Saturday till a government order is produced to the contrary.

"As per Odisha government order, a night curfew will be imposed in Bhubaneswar from 9 pm tomorrow (till 5 am), until further orders. All essential services and supply of essential commodities including medical services will be allowed," he said.

Meanwhile, the COVID-19 vaccination in-charge of Odisha said that the state is undergoing a vaccine shortage that it is only left with vaccines to run half of its vaccination sites.

Bijay Pgrahi, COVID-19 vaccination in-charge, Odisha said, "We are running short of vaccines. We do not have enough stock to run all 1,500 vaccination sites across Odisha. With this stock, only 700 vaccination sites are possible to operate."

Odisha reported 3,108 new COVID-19 cases, 837 recoveries and three deaths in the last 24 hours, according to a state health bulletin.

With this, the total number of cases has gone up to 3,61,450. There were 16,889 active cases in the state till Thursday while a total of 3,42,570 persons have recovered from the disease.

The death toll due to COVID-19 in the state stood at 1,638.

( With inputs from ANI )