Odisha's Ganjam shuts religious places till Jan 31 after massive spike in COVID cases

Image credit: ANI

Berhampur: All religious places in Odisha's Ganjam district will remain closed for devotees from January 9 amid rising coronavirus cases, a senior official said. Temples, mosques, and churches will remain closed till January 31.

However, rituals can be conducted by the staff in the places of worship by following COVID-19 precautionary measures, the official said.

Ganjam Collector Vijay Amruta said the preventive measure was taken to curb the spread of the infection due to gathering in the religious places. The district had reported 42 new coronavirus infections, and 138 active cases in the last 24 hours.

The major religious places in the district include the Maa Tara Tarini temple, which was opened for the devotees on December 13 last year after remaining closed for about nine months due to the second wave of the pandemic and development work.

Odisha registered 3,679 fresh COVID-19 cases on Saturday, a 36-per-cent rise over the previous day and the biggest single-day spike in more than six months.

The Jagannath temple in Puri will remain closed from January 10 till January 31 because of the increasing COVID-19 cases.