Government warns India against overcrowding of tourist destinations

After pictures of an overcrowded Manali made the rounds of social media, the government has warned travellers about crowding tourist places. The Centre has raised an alarm warning travellers about revenge travel that is becoming the norm. After months of staying locked in at home, people are travelling to the hills to escape the heat in the plains.
Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry, said in a statement, “Virus will get an opportunity to spread again if people continue to move around in hill stations and markets without wearing masks and without maintaining physical distance.”

All the progress that the country has made right now to contain the virus will go to waste if people continue to crowd in tourism destinations.
Balram Bhargava, Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research, said, “The pictures (from hill stations) that we have seen today are very frightening. Covid-appropriate behaviour is absolutely essential.”

It has been noticed that such travellers are crowding popular tourist sites such as manali and all COVID protocols go unfollowed, which means no one wears masks, and there is no social distance being maintained. In fact the pictures seen on social media makes it amply clear that people are jostling for space. In fact, officials have even cited an online survey with 33000 respondents, which indicate violations of COVID protocols. It reported that only 11 percent of the people are completing with social distancing norms.