Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday appealed to the people of the state to adhere to Covid-19 guidelines to avoid a lockdown kind of situation in the coming days.

His appeal to the people comes in the wake of Covid cases increasing in states like Maharashtra, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

Naveen pointed out how lockdown has been enforced in some areas of Maharashtra because of rising virus cases.

In his message to the people, the chief minister said: “The lockdown agony is still fresh in our mind. It has severely hit our socio-economic conditions, social life, education of our children. It has almost affected all sectors.

“The normalcy returned to the state because of people’s sacrifice and co-operation.

No one wants that lockdown to return. Therefore, the only way to avoid such situations is awareness and following the guidelines. If we stay alert, the lockdown kind of situation will not come up.”

Stating that the state will never let the sacrifice of the Covid warriors go in vain, Naveen said: “We have lost many lives in our battle against coronavirus. The tears rolled down from the eyes of the kin of deceased persons are yet to dry up. We will not let all the sacrifice of the Covid warriors to go lost.”

Naveen maintained how because of state’s co-ordinated fight against the corona pandemic, the number of cases have come down.

“The risk is yet to be over. Zero infection is our target,” said Naveen, adding that the World Health Organisation has praised Odisha’s battle against the virus.

He urged people to come forward and make the vaccination programme a success .