Odisha Government Issues Covid-19 January 2022 Guidelines

The Odisha Government issued the Covid-19 unlock guidelines for the month of January 2022. As per the notification issued by the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC), a night curfew shall be imposed in all urban areas of the State from 10 pm to 5 am every day.

According to the notification, the following are the protocol that will be followed this month-

1. There will be no movement of vehicles except for exigencies on the production of proper evidence. All the shops and malls shall remain open across the State from 5 am to 10 pm every day.
2. All Social/ Religious gatherings shall remain prohibited.
3. Political gatherings should be limited not more than 100 persons with full compliance to COVID protocols.
4. Exhibitions/ Trade Fairs/ Expo/ Melas shall remain prohibited. However, official events may be allowed with prior approval of the Government.
5. No picnic in Parks, Nature Clubs, Beaches and other Picnic Spots shall be allowed.
6. No cultural and Dance programmes of any sort shall be organized in Hotels, Parks/Malls/ Convention Centres/ Kalyan Mandaps.
7. No Educational Institutions shall organize Excursions/ Picnics till the end of January 2022.
8. Annual Day Celebration/ Anniversary in the pretext of any reason is prohibited.
9. Cultural gatherings/ programmes including melodies, orchestra/ Jatra/ opera, dances-classical, folk and other permitted dance forms, cultural competitions, open-air theatres/ drama/ nukkad natak/ street plays/ other such performances, etc shall be allowed to open with due compliance to Covid protocols.
10. Auditoriums/ assembly halls/ similar facilities shall be allowed to open up to 50% of capacity with due compliance to covid protocols.
11. Open Air Theatres/ Jatras /Operas shall be permitted by the local authorities (District Magistrate/SP/ Municipal Commissioner or any other officer authorized) subject to compliance of COVID-19 safety protocols such as the mandatory wearing of face masks, physical distancing, provision of thermal scanning, etc.
12. Keeping the size of the ground/ space in the view, an appropriate number of persons (subject to a ceiling of 1000 persons) will be allowed ensuring maintenance of prescribed physical distancing norm i.e., maintaining a distance of 6 feet from each other and the seating arrangement shall be made accordingly. As far as possible, a facility for online booking of tickets may be arranged by the organizers and a sufficient number of counters shall be opened to prevent crowding during physical booking of tickets.
13. The facility of advance booking online as well as through counters may also be organized. The organizers shall be responsible for due compliance with these norms/ conditions.
14. For indoor halls, the numbers of viewers/ spectators shall not exceed 50% of the seating capacity of the hall.
15. Cinema halls, theatres shall be allowed to open with up to 50% of capacity and operate with due compliance to Covid protocols.
16. In closed places, the number of persons including the invitees shall not exceed 50% of the hall capacity.