The Himachal Pradesh government on Wednesday issued an advisory to tourists for bringing RTPCR report, not issued earlier than 72 hours or vaccine certificate (single or both doses) while visiting the state amid gradual spike in cases.
A state government official said all persons intending to visit Himachal for tourism related activities are advised to carry their Covid-19 vaccine certificate (single or both doses) or a negative RT-PCR test report while visiting the state.
Any person violating these measures and COVID appropriate behaviour will be liable for action as per the provisions of Disaster Management Act. 2005.
Besides, legal action under Section 188 of the IPC and other legal provisions will be imposed on violators.
The decision seemed to be taken in view of an increase in Covid-19 cases in the state since the last few days as the number of the Coronavirus cases had increased from 858 on 26 July to 1,414 till 3 August.
The official stated that the advisory was issued by the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) after considering the unprecedented surge in Covid-19 cases, high positivity rate and fatalities in the past few months.
And in order to break the transmission chain, the government had imposed restrictions till 22 July and Himachal was reopening in a gradual manner after relaxations were granted.
While the decline in the number of cases is a matter of satisfaction, it may be noted that the absolute case numbers are still significantly high.
Therefore, there is no room for complacency and the process of relaxing restrictions needs to be carefully calibrated as has been reiterated in the government’s orders.
However, it has been observed that there are blatant violations of Covid-19 norms in several parts of the state, especially in public transport and public places, the advisory said.
If the norms of Covid-19 appropriate behaviour were not followed, the concerned authority of any establishment, premises and markets will be held liable for re-imposition of restrictions and action as per law, it added.
The advisory further stated that the ‘No Mask, No Service’ policy will be followed strictly in letter and spirit by all and only people with face masks will be allowed to board public or private transport.
In addition, all government departments have been instructed to strictly comply with the guidelines issued for various activities and sectors and these departments, district magistrates, SPs have been asked to implement these with PRIs, ULBs support.