BHUBANESWAR: In view of the prevailing COVID-19 situation in Odisha, the state government Tuesday announced a ban on the religious activities and congregations of 'Kaudias' or 'Bol Bom' devotees.
The 'Bol Bom' devotees are not allowed to collect water from rivers, ponds, and other water bodies and walk on any public road to offer it to the deity at any Shiva temple during the Odia month of Shravan (July/August), 2021, an order issued by the Chief Secretary said.
The decision was taken after an assessment of the COVID-19 situation, the order said.
This is for the second year when the state government prohibited the 'Bol Bom Jatra' with the possibility of a third wave of COVID-19 looming large this time.
During the annual pilgrimage, the 'Kaudias' walk barefoot in groups chanting 'Bol Bom' to consecrate the holy water.
The devotees start their barefoot journey to the Shiva temples on Saturday and Sunday to offer the holy water at Shiva shrines every Monday in the month of 'Shravan'.
The government has already prohibited religious functions and other gatherings till July 16, 2021.
All religious places are also closed for the general public.
COVID-19 tally soared to 9,43,675 on Tuesday as 1,930 more people tested positive for the infection, while a record 68 fresh fatalities pushed the state's coronavirus death toll to 4,730.
The state registered its previous highest single-day fatalities of 65 on July 11.
The Odisha government was forced to halt the inoculation drive in 15 of the 30 districts due to a shortage of vaccines, a senior health official said.
The state now has only 3,49,930 doses of Covishield and 3,09,530 Covaxin jabs.
Covaxin is being administered in Bhubaneswar and Berhampur cities, while the rest of the state is getting Covishield doses.
The drive has been suspended in Angul, Balasore, Deogarh, Dhenkanal, Gajapati, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Kendrapara, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Nayagarh, Nuapada and Sambalpur districts.
As many as 217 vaccination sites functioned on Monday, while the inoculation drive is taking place in only 97 sites during the day, he said.
Khurda district, under which Bhubaneswar falls, recorded the highest number of fresh cases at 431, followed by Cuttack (220) and Balasore (134), another official said.
As many as 1,117 new cases were registered in quarantine centres, while 813 fresh infections were detected during contact tracing.
Khurda also recorded the highest number of fresh fatalities at 17, followed by Ganjam (seven), and Bargarh and Mayurbhanj (six each).
"This list does not reflect deaths occurring on a particular day. It gives details of past deaths for which the death audit process has been duly completed and the cause of death has been identified as due to COVID -19," the Health Department tweeted.
Fifty-three coronavirus patients have died due to comorbidities to date.
The state now has 23,492 active cases, while 9,15,400 people have recovered from the disease to date, including 2,937 on Monday.
Odisha has tested over 1.47 crore samples for COVID-19 thus far, including 62,410 on Monday.
The positivity rate stands at 6.41 per cent.
Meanwhile, the state administration has vaccinated over 10 lakh people in Bhubaneswar alone till July 12, of whom 5.43 lakh have received both doses, a civic official said.