Omicron Outbreak: List Of Strategies Adopted By States To Tackle Public Gatherings On New Year Celebrations

Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Government decided to cap the attendance at gatherings in open or closed spaces to 50, following the recent surge in daily COVID-19 cases in the state.

Gatherings of no more than 250 persons in open spaces and 100 individuals in enclosed spaces were allowed to attend marriage functions or a social, religious, cultural, and political gathering earlier.

The state government issued new guidelines on December 30, capping the number of attendees at all these events to 50 individuals to maintain social distancing, as per a report in The New Indian Express.

Meanwhile, the fresh order also stipulates that no more than 20 individuals can attend the last rites.

New Year's Celebrations With An Eye On Omicron

With the rapidly increasing numbers of COVID-19 and Omicron variant cases across the country, several other states also took the initiative to impose strict restrictions on potential New Year 2022 celebrations.

In Delhi, the Kejriwal-led government had imposed a night curfew from 10 pm to 5 am, which meant parties and gatherings were restricted. Furthermore, restaurants and bars were again granted to remain open at 50 per cent capacity till 10 pm.

The Tamil Nadu government prohibited all New Year celebrations on beaches and in public places and all restaurants and hotels will need to close down come 11 pm, the state police had announced on December 29.

Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh also had imposed a night curfew from 11 pm to 5 am as a precautionary measure to keep a check on current Omicron spread.

In Kerala, the government announced that no political, social, cultural and religious gatherings will not be granted between 10 pm to 5 am from December 30 to January 2 amid the spike in COVID cases.

The Odisha government also imposed restrictions on New Year celebrations till January 2 and banned night celebrations at clubs, hotels, parks, convention halls, restaurants, and other public places across the state.

India Records More Than 22,000 COVID Cases

India's COVID tally shot up to 3,48,61,579 as the country reported 22,775 cases today, a 35 per cent jump from yesterday's 16,764 infections. As many as 406 deaths were also reported during the period, reported NDTV.

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