Uttarakhand issues new SOPs for travellers from five states, COVID test must on arrival

The Uttarakhand government on Tuesday issued a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs), according to which passengers travelling from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to Uttarakhand will have to carry RT-PCR negative reports or will have to undergo COVID-19 test on arrival as a precautionary measure.

Dehradun District Magistrate Ashish Kumar Srivastava said that passengers of these states are being tested at the state borders, railway stations and Dehradun Airport. 

Uttarakhand issues new SOPs

Dehradun District Magistrate informed that the travellers arriving from five states will have to undergo an RT-PCR test.

Srivastava said, "Due to the rise in COVID19 cases in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, travellers from these states have to undergo testing on arrival in Uttarakhand at state borders, railway stations and Dehradun airport."

Uttarakhand recorded 32 new coronavirus cases on Monday and reported two deaths. 

According to the state Health Department, on Monday, out of 5,867 samples from private and government labs, 5,835 tested negative. No new cases of coronavirus infection have been reported in Uttarakhand's six districts- Chamoli, Bageshwar, Almora, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi. 96,719 cases have been reported in the state so far, out of which 93,230 people have recovered. There are currently 411 active cases in the state. At the same time, 1,689 patients succumbed to coronavirus infection. 

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Precautionary measures to avoid Covid-19 spread

Several states across the country have seen an upsurge in COVID-19 cases in the last few days, hence, the Uttarakhand government decided to tighten the Covid-19 norms for the passengers travelling from vulnerable states. The Uttarakhand government issued a fresh set of guidelines, authorising government bodies to follow the guidelines based on the assessment of the situation in order to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The new guidelines with regard to travelling, gatherings, Covid-19 testing and other social distancing norms will remain the same as issued by the state government on November 23.

Earlier, the government of Karnataka on Wednesday made a Covid-negative certificate compulsory for Kerala returnees. According to the new SOPs issued by the Karnataka government, people travelling from Kerala should give Covid negative RT-PCR reports on their arrival at Pune airport and it should not be older than three days. Also, The Municipal Corporation of Pune in Maharashtra on Thursday issued a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs), according to which passengers travelling from Kerala to Pune will have to carry RT-PCR negative reports. The Maharashtra government made similar SOPs for the people coming from different parts of the country including Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Goa. People from these states are mandated to carry their RT-PCR negative test reports. 

(With inputs from ANI)

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