Uttarakhand orders strict adherence to COVID protocol at tourist spots

Dehradun: The government of Uttarakhand has ordered visitors from all the tourist spots in the state to strictly adhere to the Covid protocol due to the risk of infection spreading due to the increasing crowd of tourists in popular destinations like Mussoorie and Nainital. Uttarakhand orders strict COVID protocol at tourist spots

Upon arrival in the state, tourists are now required to submit a negative Covid test report no more than 72 hours old.

Provincial judges in Dehradun, Nainital and other provinces have issued orders to officials to ensure that all tourists are strictly following Covid standards.

Tourists flock in recent days to major tourist spots such as Mussoorie, Kempty Fall, Nainital, Haridwar and Rishikesh.

Several videos went viral where tourists were seen violating Covid regulations by not wearing masks and refusing to maintain social distancing.

Dehradun DM Ashish Shrivastava said: "We have learned through videos on social media that people are not following appropriate behavior for Covid. They are not wearing masks or maintaining any social distancing. This is cause for concern."

Narendra Pant, Mussoorie Constituency Officer, said that tourists arriving in Mussoorie will be detained at Kothal Gate on their way to check if they are registered with Smart City Gate and if they have negative Covid test report with them.

He said only those with the documents could go to Mussoorie and the rest would be returned.

Pant said recorded messages asking people to adopt appropriate Covid behavior are playing on Mussoorie throughout the day.

He added that people who violate the rules are also fined.

He said there had also been additional deployment of police personnel to ensure people were not circumventing standard operating procedures.

He said there was a 50 percent drop in tourist flow due to restrictions in Mussoorie this weekend compared to the previous one.

 After videos of hundreds of tourists seen together in Kempty Fall without wearing masks went viral, the number of tourists bathing at the same time in the fall has now reached a maximum of 50.

No one can stay in the fall for more than 30 minutes.

The restrictions were imposed on Thursday by Tehri District Magistrate Eva Ashish Shrivastava.

Police officers in Nainital said tourists were prevented from entering the lake city during the day on weekends.

But they said there are no restrictions on tourists staying in hotels.

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