Puri temple to do away with Covid test for temple entry

BHUBANESWAR: The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration in Puri is planning to do away with mandatory Covid test for temple entry from next week, it is reliably learnt.
A meeting of the administration is scheduled on Sunday. “We expect a favorable decision,” a senior government officer said.
The move comes a day after the state health department suggested an end to the practice of insisting on Covid-19 negative certificate for entering the 12th century shrine, which reopened for all devotees from January 3 after a prolonged shutdown due to the pandemic.
While making a presentation on the pandemic situation before chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday, additional chief secretary (health) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said, “Mandatory testing for entry into temples may kindly be dispensed with as it is a time consuming process for the devotees who also come from far off places. Rather, the Covid appropriate behavior should be strictly observed by the temple authority as is being practiced in other public premises like shops and shopping malls.”
Notably, governor Ganeshi Lal had to return from the temple on January 3 because he had not Covid negative certificate.
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