Ahead of the festive season, the government issued an advisory on Saturday, 23 October, for precautions against coronavirus, encouraging online shopping to avoid unnecessary travelling.
The advisory calls for state governments to issue appropriate guidelines for safe festivities.
Suggested measures include avoiding mass gatherings in areas identified as containment zones or districts where more than 5 percent of the COVID-19 tests are turning out to be positive.
Advance permissions would be required for sanctioned gatherings, the advisory says, however such gatherings must have limited attendees. It also asks for penal actions to be taken in case of violations.
The Healthy Ministry earlier on 30 November 2020 and 1 March 2021 had issued guidelines with respect to malls, local markets, and places of worship, which the government has asked the people to strictly adhere to.
The five pillars of COVID-19 management – test, track, treat, vaccinate, and follow COVID-19-appropriate behaviour – should be diligently followed, it said.
(With inputs from NDTV, Times of India.)