The Lord Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s Puri will remain closed for devotees till January 31 amid a rise in COVID-19 cases in the state.
With the steep rise in Covid-19 cases in Odisha, the Jagannath temple in Puri will remain closed for devotees from January 10 (Monday) to January 31, it was decided on Friday.
This decision was taken at the Chatisa Nijog meeting held virtually under the chairmanship of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) chief administrator Krishan Kumar this evening.
After taking opinions from all stakeholders, it was decided to close down the temple for the devotees as thousands of people from various states including hotspots are coming to the temple, Puri Collector Samarth Verma said.
However, the daily rituals at the temple will be continued as per tradition by the servitors, he said. This decision was taken by the Chatisa Nijog after some servitors and temple administration staff have tested Covid positive in the past few days, sources said.
The temple will effectively remain open only on Saturday as on Sunday it remains closed for sanitisation of its premises. The decision regarding reopening the temple for devotees will be taken after reviewing the COVID-19 situation at the end of the month.
Odisha on Monday registered 4,829 new COVID-19 cases, marginally higher than the previous day, while no fatality was recorded for the third consecutive day, a health bulletin said. Amid the current surge in COVID-19 numbers, the positivity rate in the state has declined marginally.
The daily positivity rate declined to 6.5 percent from 6.72 percent on the previous day, as per PTI reports. As per the official health bulletin of the state, Odisha had logged 4,714 cases on Sunday, while 4,852 infections were registered on June 12 last year.
(With inputs from agencies)
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 "Puri’s Jagannath Temple to remain closed till January 31 amid surge in COVID-19 cases")
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