Odisha extends COVID-19 lockdown till April 30

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Thursday decided to extend the ongoing lockdown in the state till April 30 to effectively contain the spread of coronavirus.

Schools and other education institutions will remain closed till June 17, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced after a video conference with his ministers.

"We have decided to extend the lockdown period till April 30 and a recommendation in this regard will be sent to the Centre," he said in a video message.

Patnaik said the state has also urged the Centre to stop train and flight services to Odisha till April 30.

Odisha has recorded 44 positive cases of coronavirus so far.

The Odisha government on Wednesday declared more areas as containment zones for surveillance and contact tracing.

While five areas comprising 7,992 households in the state capital were sealed and put under containment zones, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) said it undertook surveillance of about 4,000 people to ascertain their COVID-19 status and blood samples of some suspected people were sent for testing, officials said.

The nationwide lockdown was declared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 to break the chain of coronavirus transmission and it was scheduled to be lifted on April 15.

(With PTI inputs)