COVID: Gulmarg tourist destination out of bounds for local day-picnickers on weekends

By PTI
SRINAGAR: Authorities in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district Thursday imposed a ban on the entry of local day-picnickers in the tourist destination of Gulmarg during weekends to prevent the spread of coronavirus, officials said.

“No local day-picnickers shall be allowed to enter tourist destination Gulmarg on weekend days (Saturday and Sunday),” Baramulla Deputy Commissioner Bhupinder Kumar said in an order issued in his capacity as the chairperson of the District Disaster Management Authority.

The order said that the curbs were being imposed under The Epidemic Diseases Act 1987 and Section 34 of National Disaster Management Act 2005 to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the tourist attraction city.

According to the order, only tourists with confirmed pre-bookings of hotels, guesthouses or huts will be allowed to enter the tourist resort frequented by locals and visitors alike.

Only vaccinated persons or those with negative COVID-19 test report not older than 48 hours will be allowed to enter, it added.

The order also reiterated that anyone found roaming without mask will be fined Rs 1,000.

Gulmarg is the third tourist destination after Pahalgam in Anantnag district and Sonamarg in Ganderbal district put off-limits for local tourists during weekends.

The state recorded 203 fresh cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, taking the total number of infected persons to 3,19,355, while one new death pushed the fatality toll to 4,361, officials said.

Of the fresh cases, 74 were from the Jammu division and 129 from the Kashmir division of the union territory, they said.

The officials said Srinagar district recorded the highest of 42 cases, followed by 22 cases in Reasi district.

No fresh case was reported from two districts and nine districts had new cases in single digits, they added.

The number of active cases has dropped to 2,104 in the union territory.

So far, 3,12,890 patients have recovered from the infection, the officials said.

The death toll rose to 4,361 as one fresh fatality was reported in the past 24 hours.

The officials said confirmed cases of mucormycosis (black fungus) in the union territory stood at 32 as no fresh case was reported since Wednesday evening.