Bhubaneswar, Apr 5 (PTI) A group of persons allegedly pelted stones at a police team and attacked them with sticks in Cuttack city of Odisha on Sunday when they were asked to go back to their houses during a complete shutdown imposed as part of measures to prevent spread of COVID-19, a police officer said.

At least 25 people were arrested in Cuttack city after analysing the visuals of the incident that the police had, the officer said.

The incident took place in Kesarpur area of the city, where a 48-hour shutdown is in force since 8 pm on Friday, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Cuttack, Akhileswar Singh said.

The persons, who were spotted roaming near a mosque in violation of the shutdown orders and asked to go back to their houses, attacked the police personnel, causing injuries to some of them, he said.

The miscreants were then dispersed and some of them were detained, he said.

Later a search operation was launched to nab some others, he said.

About six people were also taken into custody in different parts of Cuttack for flouting the shutdown orders, police said.

Apart from Cuttack, a 48-hour shutdown is also in force in state capital Bhubaneswar and Bhadrak town since Friday night in order to undertake aggressive containment and surveillance as part of measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the state.

The state government decided to impose the shutdown following a sudden spurt in COVID-19 cases in state.

The number of coronavirus affected persons has gone up to 23 as per latest reports Three of those who tested positive for coronavirus had visited the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Nizamuddin in Delhi last month. Meanwhile, the district administrations of Jajpur and Puri have imposed shutdown in certain places since Saturday while a partial shutdown came into force in Ganjam district for an indefinite period from Sunday noon. The district administration of Jajpur imposed same restrictions in Jajpur and Vyasnagar municipality areas and also in all block headquarters from 8 pm of Saturday to 8 pm of April 6 after a COVID-19 positive case was reported in Brahmabarada area.

Following another COVID-19 positive case at Danagahir village under Pipili block of Puri district, the administration declared the area as containment zone.

The entire area covering Danagahir Chhak, Jayapura Chhak and Jayapura Sasan Chhak has been sealed as a precautionary measure to contain the spread, said a senior official.

Puri Sub-Collector B T Sahu said the area will remain under shutdown till midnight of April 14 and all public movement has been banned with all entry and exit points sealed.

After a Baharain returnee was found to be a confirmed COVID-19 case in Kalahandi district on Saturday night, the district administration imposed restrictions in several areas of the district and launched a contact tracing operation.

Meanwhile, a total of 203 of cases have been registered by the police in the state for violations of different regulations and guidelines related to COVID-19 since Saturday, an official said.

Of them, 185 are for violation of lockdown, 3 for violation of 'home quarantine' and 15 for other issues.

Altogether 250 persons have been arrested for different violations, he said. Up to 12 noon on Sunday, 1,699 samples have been tested and number of positive COVID-19 cases have reached 23. Two persons have already been cured and discharged from hospital while active cases stand at 19, he said.

Among the 23 positive cases, 16 are from Bhubaneswar, one each from Puri, Cuttack, Kalahandi and Jajpur and 3 from Bhadrak, while 75 persons are under hospital isolation. PTI

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)