Tripura bans Covid; Mask mandatory in public places. details here

A total of seven directions were passed after a high powered meeting held by Chief Secretary Kumar Alok at the Civil Secretariat on December 24.

In the meeting, Principal Secretary Puneet Agarwal and National Health Mission Director Siddharth Shib Jaiswal made separate presentations and prepared a road map for implementation of the directions finalized there.

It was decided in the meeting, “It is mandatory to wear a mask or face cover in public places, crowded areas, markets, in all workplaces and offices and during travel.”

If any violation is found, the District Magistrate and Collector, State Police Service (SPS), Commissioner, Head of the Department are entitled to take action.

According to the meeting, wide publicity will be given to wearing masks or face covers and maintaining COVID Appropriate Practices (CAB) through miking, print, electronic and social media.

The list of arrivals of travelers from high-risk countries should be shared with Police Headquarters and all Superintendents of Police so that their mandatory home quarantine can be closely monitored by Police along with health teams.

In addition, it has been decided that the health department should intensify the level of testing by activating additional teams and the focus has been on strict sample testing at entry points like airports, all railway stations and Churaibadi inter-state borders.

Health Department, DM and Collector, AAI, NF Railway and BSF ensure this immediately.

“The officers of BSF, CRPF, Assam Rifles, CISF and other paramilitary forces should also ensure strict compliance of sample testing of persons coming from outside the state,” it was decided in the meeting.

Those not using masks or not maintaining CAB can be fined with effect from December 31, 2021.

The new restrictions came into force on December 31, 2021 and will remain in force till further orders. Till now, no case of Omicron has been reported in Tripura.