Strict Vigilance On New Year Parties: Centre To States

Troublesome 2020 has finally come to an end. And the people are all set to welcome New Year with a lot of hope. With many are busy making their New Year plans and planning to celebrate the New Year’s opening in grand style and party hard, the Centre’s guidelines may put off the partyholics. With spurging cases of Covid-19 and increase in cases of new Corona strain, Centre has asked the states to be cautious. The Centre asked the states to keep strict vigilance on New Year Parties.

The Union Health Ministry made these guidelines to the States on Wednesday. It asked the states to make the safety protocols mandatory during the New Year Events. This is following the inputs received from the Joint Monitoring Group (JMG) headed by the Director-General of Health Services (DGHS) and the National Task Force jointly headed by DG, ICMR and Member (Health), NITI Aayog.

Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written to all the States to keep strict vigil to curb “super spreader” events in the wake of New Year celebrations. The Centre has also extended the suspension of to & fro flights from the UK till Jan 7, 2021.

Already several celebrities have flown down to Goa to party and welcome New Year. It needs to be seen how states respond to the Centre’s directions and what restrictions states would impose. Partyholics have a reason to worry with this news.