Govt to start new campaign on 'appropriate COVID-19 behaviour' in view of festive season

The Centre will soon launch a renewed campaign that will aim at spreading awareness about "appropriate COVID-19 behaviour" in view of forthcoming festivals like Navratra, Durga Puja and Diwali, and on further 'unlocking' of public activities, officials said on Tuesday.

The Centre will soon launch a renewed campaign that will aim at spreading awareness about "appropriate COVID-19 behaviour" in view of forthcoming festivals like Navratra, Durga Puja and Diwali, and on further 'unlocking' of public activities, officials said on Tuesday. Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla chaired a meeting here to chalk out plans and representatives of different central ministries and the Central Armed Police Forces participated through video conference.

The meeting discussed how to carry forward the campaign focusing on three key elements of human behaviour in fighting the coronavirus pandemic, a government official aware of the meeting said. The three elements are: mandatory wearing of mask, social distancing and hand hygiene.

The enhanced public campaign will stress on the necessity of following disciplined behaviour till the virus is eradicated and in view of reopening of various activities as per fresh guidelines, the official said. The need for the campaign was felt as the country is getting into a long festive season with festivals like Navratra, Durga Puja, Dussehra, Diwali, Chhath, Christmas, Makar Sankranti coming up.

The new campaign or to say the extension of the already running public campaigns will be taken forward by all information and communication dissemination wings of the government and various agencies, another official said. The Union Home Ministry, on September 30, had issued new guidelines for permitting more activities in areas outside COVID-19 containment zones that include opening of cinemas, theatres and multiplexes with up to 50 per cent of their seating capacity from October 15.

State governments and Union Territories have been given the flexibility to decide on re-opening schools and coaching institutions after October 15 in a graded manner, and permitting social, religious and political gatherings beyond the limit of 100 people, subject to certain conditions, as part of these guidelines issued by the MHA under the provisions of the Disaster Management Act. A country-wide lockdown was first announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from March 25 and it was extended in phases till May 31 to check the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

The unlock process in the country had begun on June 1 with the graded reopening of commercial, social, religious and other activities. India's total Coronavirus caseload stands at 66.85 lakh on Tuesday while the death toll climbed to 1,03,569.