Last leg of lockdown to see tougher measures in Uttarakhand

As the spread of COVID-19 by the Jamaatis have reached alarming proportions in some pockets of the Himalayan state, Uttarakhand's Trivendra Singh Rawat government is contemplating to take tough decisions in the last week of the lockdown.

The state government, according to highly placed sources, would be curtailing daily relaxation upto three to four hours from sixhours for the public.

Besides, efforts were on to evacuate foreign nationals who have been stranded since the lockdown was enforced on March 25.

To contain the crowd on streets and markets, seen during the relaxation hours from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., the state government would be restricting the timings and announce a new schedule for the people who come out to buy essential commodities like milk, bread and vegetables.

"In a meeting with the Chief Minister it was suggested by the top officials, that people do not adhere to social distancing, especially in fruit and vegetable markets. Moreover, in smaller towns people in large numbers are hanging around on streets and other public places. It has been decided to enforce the laws strictly to maintain the norms of social distancing. We will be sending fresh instructions to District Magistrates in this connection," said a senior official of the Uttarakhand government.

The hill state, which hitherto had negligible number of COVID-19 positive cases, was witness to a sudden spurt in infections once members of the Tablighi Jamaat returned from Delhi's Nizamuddin Markaz, the new hotspot of spreading coronavirus in the country.

Out of 31 COVID-19 positive patients in Uttarakhand, 24 belong to the Jamaat.

The government is in the process of identifying contacts of such Jamaatis and have put them through testing.

Cases relating to Jamaatis have been reported from Nainital, Almora, Haridwar and other districts too.

Several hundred foreign tourists who have been stranded in different tourist places in the state are also returning.

Nearly 100 American citizens who were stranded in different districts, were flown out of Dehradun's Jolly Grant airport to Delhi in a special Air India flight Monday evening, airport officials said.

After mandatory health check ups of the foreigners, they were allowed to board the flight, sources said.

As per police, around 300 to 400 foreigners are still stranded in the state with maximum in Haridwar, Rishikesh, Nainital and Almora due to the lockdown.

Nearly 700 to 800 foreign nationals have so far left Uttarakhand with the travel arrangements made by their respective embassies in New Delhi. IANS