India / Open invitation for COVID-19: Govt on video of hundreds of tourists at Kempty Falls

Reacting to the video of hundreds of tourists bathing at Mussoorie's Kempty Falls, Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said, "Are we doing the right things? Is it not an open invitation for COVID-19 virus to infect us?" Meanwhile, NITI Aayog Member Dr VK Paul said that people violating COVID-19 norms at tourist spots is "a serious cause of concern".

New Delhi: Days after the viral videos showed a large number of tourists flouting COVID guidelines and taking baths at Kempty Water Falls in Uttarakhand, The Union ministry of Health and Family Welfare said it is an open invitation to coronavirus. Saying that the second COVID wave is not over yet, the ministry said people should not lower their guard at all.

Sharing a clip from the viral video of maskless tourists crowding at Mussoorie’s Kempty falls, the health ministry said such incidents are an open invitation for Covid-19 to infect us.

“We cannot lower our guard. A new risk is being seen at tourist spots where a gathering of crowds being seen, social distancing and mask protocol is not being followed. This is a serious cause of concern,” Dr VK Paul, Member-Health, Niti Aayog, said.

Giving a word of caution, Joint Secretary at Ministry of Health Lav Aggarwal said that people need to continue to take all precautions. “In the United Kingdom, Russia and Bangladesh have seen a resurgence of COVID19 cases,” he added.

“We are still dealing with the second wave of COVID19. We need to continue the display of COVID19 appropriate behaviour,” he added.

He also stated that the daily new cases in the country continue to show a decline and there has been a decline of 8% in average daily new cases in the last week. 80% of the new cases reported from 90 districts, he added.

Earlier in the day, the district administration in Uttarakhand capped the tourists at 50 at the Kempty Water Falls after the Centre said it will reimpose lockdown again if the COVID norms continue to be violated.

Taking preventive measure, the district administration said only 50 tourists will be allowed to bathe at Mussoorie’s famous Kempty falls with a maximum permissible time of 30 minutes.

The district administration has taken the decision in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, District Magistrate Iva Ashish Shrivastava said.

“There will be a time limit of 30 minutes for each bather, she said, adding an air horn will be used to signal the exit time.

This came a day after viral videos showed a large number of tourists bathing at the falls without wearing masks or maintaining social distancing norms.