New Delhi: Amid the concerns over the surge in the Covid-19 cases in the national capital with festivals round the corner, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Saturday advised the people of the city not to organise gatherings as it might result in spreading of the virus.
Jain said, "Holi celebrations and large gatherings will not be allowed across the city and action will be taken against people found violating the rules."
As per the recent advisory by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), the vigilance team under the district magistrates will be monitoring the gatherings and celebrations at the public places. "I would appeal to all that we must celebrate the festivals within our homes. These festivals will every year and once the situation gets better we can celebrate them publicly but as of now public celebrations might result in another spike in the Covid-19 cases, therefore, celebrations at public places and gatherings must be avoided. Various teams have been constituted to monitor the celebrations and strict action will be taken against the violators," he added.
Jain also said that random testing of people coming from outside the national capital, especially from states where Covid-19 cases have reached an alarming stage is being conducted at the railway stations and the airport.
Holi Celebrations Banned In Gurugram
Meanwhile, the Gurugram district administration has imposed ban on Holi celebrations in public places in view of Covid-19 case surge.
The Deputy Commissioner (DC) Gurugram, Yash Garg, released an order in this regard on Friday night.
"Recently there has been a surge in the cases day-by-day. It is anticipated that gathering, congregation and public celebrations during upcoming Holi festival may pose a considerable threat of spread of virus and may cause setback to the appreciable gains made in the suppression of chain of transmission of Covid-19 cases in Gurugram.
Considering this, it has been decided that the public celebrations and all gathering during the upcoming festival should not be allowed in public places, market, religious places, parks, community centres, malls, farm houses, Banquet halls, hotels and any other such places where the crowd gathering is expected across the district in Gurugram," the order said.
This order shall come into force from March 26 and remain in force upto the end of March 29, read the order.
"People have to follow Covid-19 guidelines. If they don't take precautions they could be infected with the virus during the festival season. We appeal to the public to follow social distancing norms and take extra caution," Garg said.
Haryana Home and Health Minister Anil Vij in a tweet, on March 24, had said: "The Haryana government has banned public celebrations of Holi in view of corona..." Districts such as Gurugram, Ambala, Karnal and Panchkula has been severely affected by the pandemic.