Uttarakhand: Hotels can resume operations, but guests need to book for minimum 7 days

The Uttarakhand government has issued Unlock 1 guidelines for homestays, hotels, shopping malls, and religious places. As per the guidelines issued by the state government, homestays and hotels, located in non-containment zones, can resume business. However, they are not allowed to take bookings from people coming from high-risk COVID-19 cities.
As per the guidelines issued by the state’s Chief Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh, hotels have been prohibited from accepting booking from people coming from 75 high-risk COVID-19 cities across the country, such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Noida, Chennai, Pune, Lucknow, Jaipur, Hyderabad, and others.

Reportedly, those coming to the state from the non-high-risk zones, will have to stay a minimum of seven days, and will also be restricted from visiting tourist hotspots and public spaces. In fact, the visitors will have to stay within the hotel premises, and will be prohibited to mix with the locals.
Further, when asked about this criterion of visitors required to stay for a minimum of seven days, officials stated that in case a person is carrying any infection, there are chances that it might show within those seven days. It will then become difficult to track the spread and the footprints of the virus, the officials emphasised.
Referring to this measure, the Chief Secretary added that they would like to start with caution initially, and those who are coming to the state, will have their health status tracked.

As per the reports, the hotel management will also have to take a written undertaking in this regard, and customers violating the said order shall be liable to actions per the provisions of Section 51 to Section 60 of the DM Act, 2005 and under Section 188 of the IPC.

Tourism in the state is believed to be at its peak in the month of June; however, the sector has been badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic this year.