Only Fully Vaccinated Allowed In Haryana Malls, Theatres From Jan 1: Minister

Eligible people who are not fully vaccinated will not be permitted inside crowded places like malls, cinema halls, restaurants and grain markets in Haryana from January 1, state Health and Home Minister Anil Vij said on Wednesday.

According to an official order, no individual, including government servants, is allowed to visit government offices without being fully vaccinated.

Mr Vij said the decision has been taken because the vaccine is the biggest protection from Covid, including its various variants, and a large number of eligible beneficiaries in Haryana were overdue for a second vaccination dose.

"From January 1, 2022, any eligible person who has not taken both doses of Covid vaccine will not be permitted in malls, hotels, restaurants, marriage palaces, cinema halls, offices, banks or any such places which attracts crowds," Mr Vij said in the Haryana Assembly.

Mr Vij made the announcement while replying to a question to a Calling Attention Motion moved by Congress MLA Chiranjeevi Rao in the ongoing winter session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha.

Mr Rao had sought to know what steps the government had taken to stop the spread of the Omicron variant.

Mr Vij said wearing of masks in public places will be strictly enforced in the state and he has directed the superintendents of police in the districts and other officials concerned to impose Rs 500 fine on those not wearing masks.

The detailed order was later issued by Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Rajeev Arora, in which the deputy commissioners have been directed to strictly implement the guidelines from January 1, 2022.

"As all are aware that the Covid pandemic has posed a huge challenge to the community and affected each and every individual adversely," the order read.

The first dose of vaccination has reached 93 per cent whereas the second dose is still lagging behind at 60 per cent, as on December 22, said the order.

A large number of beneficiaries are due and overdue since long for the second dose of Covid vaccination. Further, new variants of Covid are emerging frequently and recently Omicron cases are showing an increasing trend in the country, it said.

Looking into the current scenario steps need to be taken for increasing coverage of vaccination to mitigate spread of Covid, the order said while mentioning that second dose coverage was better than Haryana in states like Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Delhi.

Covid vaccination has been made mandatory for eligible students of colleges/polytechnics, who are more than 18 years of age.

Entry at places like sabzi mandi, bar, restaurants, hotels, grain markets, department stores, liquor and wine shops, malls, shopping complexes, cinema halls, haats, local markets and other places of public gathering should be allowed only to fully vaccinated people, the order read.

Only fully vaccinated people will be allowed to travel from bus stand, railway stations.

Other places of gathering like religious places, petrol and CNG stations, LPS gas cylinder collection centres, sugar mills, milk booths, ration shops will also allow only fully vaccinated people.

Both private and public sector banks will allow only fully vaccinated people.

Parks, yoga shalas, gymnasium, fitness centres to allow only those who have received second dose of Covid vaccination.

Truck and auto rickshaw unions will allow only fully vaccinated passengers, according to the order.

Deputy commissioners have been directed to constitute multidisciplinary teams to check implementation of these orders while civil surgeons have been directed to depute vaccination teams where and whenever demanded by office in-charges for on-the-spot vaccination or for regular vaccination camps at places of public gathering.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)