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States asked to regulate crowds before festivals amid covid spike
With 62,267 cases within a span of 24 hours, the overall Covid-19 tally rose to 11,908,357, according the HT dashboard.
The Centre on Friday directed all states and Union territories (UTs) to regulate the crowd and ensure strict enforcement of protocols ahead of various festivals in view of rising coronavirus cases in the country.
With 62,267 cases within a span of 24 hours, the overall Covid-19 tally rose to 11,908,357, according the HT dashboard. The active caseload breached the 450,000-mark after four months. The death toll hit to 161,295 with 292 new fatalities.
In a letter to chief secretaries of all states and UTs, Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla called for necessary measures to prevent the spread of the virus and directed states and UTs to issue instructions to district administrations and police authorities to “scrupulously enforce Covid appropriate behaviour and SOPs in all public gatherings during the upcoming festivals.”
“In view of the upcoming festivals such as Holi, Shab-e-Barat, harvesting festivals, Easter, Eid-ul-Fitr etc, state governments and UT administrations should take necessary measures to regulate crowds during these festivals by ensuring strict observance of Covid appropriate behavior such as wearing of mask and maintaining social distancing as mandated in aforesaid guidelines and in National Directives for Covid-19 management,” Bhalla said in his letter.
The official’s letter further mentioned that strict adherence to Covid-appropriate behavior in public places and gatherings will help break the chain of transmission and reduce the virus caseload in the country.
“As has been emphasised time and again by health experts, strict adherence to Covid appropriate behaviour in public places and gatherings will help in breaking the chain of transmission and reduce the incidence of Covid cases in the country,” he said.
In a fresh set of guidelines on March 23, the Centre had directed the states and UTs to enhance RT-PCR tests, ensure strict enforcement of test-track-treat protocol and increase the pace of vaccination to cover all priority groups.
The Centre announced that all fresh cases will require to be isolated or quarantined at the earliest and provided timely treatment. All contacts of the infected cases will also have to be traced quickly and isolated, it added.
