Coronavirus / Haryana extends COVID-19 curbs till Sept 6; all earlier relaxations to continue

Chandigarh: Advising service providers to adopt a ‘no mask, no service’ policy, the Haryana government on Sunday extended the Covid lockdown in the state till September 6.

Relaxations already in place will continue for another fortnight. “People with face cover/mask only will be allowed to board public/private transport and enter any other government and private establishment for availing any services/goods,” orders issued by Chief Secretary Vijai Vardhan said.

“There will be continuous focus on the five-fold strategy for effective management of Covid-19 — Test-Trace-Track-Vaccination and adherence of Covid-appropriate behaviour. The deputy commissioners…are hereby directed/authorised to implement…the relaxations strictly. For enforcement of social distancing measures, deputy commissioners may, if necessary, invoke the provisions of Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). Any person violating these measures will be liable to be proceeded against as per provisions of Section 51 to 60 of the Disaster Management Act besides legal action under Section 188 of the IPC, and other legal provisions as applicable,” the order further said.

Relaxations that shall continue for the next fortnight include:

1. Restaurants and bars (including in hotels and in malls) are allowed to open with 50% seating capacity and adopting requisite social distancing norms, regular sanitisation and Covid-appropriate behavioural norms.

2. Gyms and spas are allowed to open with 50% capacity.

3. Club houses/ restaurants/bars of golf courses are allowed to open with 50 per cent seating capacity…Members/visitors shall be allowed to play in golf courses by management in a staggered manner so as to avoid overcrowding.

4. All shops and malls are allowed to open with adherence to requisite social distancing norms, regular sanitisation.

5. Swimming pools are allowed to open. All swimmers/practitioners/eligible visitors and staff to preferable get vaccinated with both doses of Covid vaccine.

6. In indoor spaces, gathering of upto 50% of the hall capacity are allowed with a ceiling of maximum 100 persons whereas in open spaces gathering will be allowed upto 200 persons.

7. Conduct of entrance and recruitment examinations by different universities/ institutes/government departments and recruitment agencies are allowed with strict implementation of Covid-19 appropriate norms.

8. University/colleges are also allowed to open for students for doubt class, practical class in laboratories, practical examinations and offline examinations. Hostels (in colleges and universities) also allowed to open only for those students who are appearing in examinations. Department of Higher Education shall release guidelines for implementation of these orders, separately.