Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy briefs District Collectors

The Odisha government on March 24 extended the lockdown to the entire State.

“We announced lockdown for 14 districts on Monday. From midnight of Tuesday, we are bringing all 30 districts under lockdown,” said Subroto Bagchi, State Chief Spokesperson on COVID-19, here.

Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy chaired a meeting of all Collectors through video-conferencing in the morning and directed them on enforcing the lockdown in their respective districts.

The Collectors were also asked to ensure all hostels meant for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students were vacated.

Also read: Coronavirus live updates | March 24, 2020

All service providers, including the private sector, who are engaged in COVID-19 relief services have been exempted from the lockdown. The police, health, fire, Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force, electricity, water and municipal services will remain on duty. Banks will function with just 10% staff. All grocery, vegetable, fish and meat shops will remain open.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is scheduled to address the State later in the day.