Jyoti Mayal, President, TAAI
With the daily data of positive corona cases is rising again many state governments have once again adopted the curfew model for stopping the spread of the new variant Omicron which is spreading at a higher rate. States like Delhi have decided to impose weekend curfew driven by the fast spreading omicron variant. Government employees, barring those engaged in essential services will be asked to work from home while private offices will remain open with 50 per cent capacity. Sharing her views on this, Jyoti Mayal, President, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) said that even though ‘we expected better times, such steps are now necessary to take, also it sounds like a good step on government’s part as they have maintained a balance in order not to make work suffer.’
Seeing other state’s pattern and rising cases, the state of Maharashtra has also come to the conclusion that a lockdown will be imposed if daily Covid cases go over 20,000. Daily number of positive cases are rising and if things continue like this then it is possible that the various states might face another lockdown.
Speaking on which Mayal said, “This is such a heart breaking scenario just when things were looking fine and we were hoping for a good new year, news of rising cases have started to come from everywhere. As a tourism industry insider, I feel really bad for the business which has already weakened over the past two years but nevertheless curbs and curfews are the need of the hour and we should absolutely follow them in order to save from further turmoil. With a large population of vaccinated people and decent domestic travel we definitely could hope for better times.”
Likewise, Rajasthan has also imposed new Covid curbs on political rallies, fairs and weddings. A maximum of 100 people will be allowed in marriage functions, public, political, social or educational meetings and processions, dharnas, fairs and such events. States are now again following the patterns of curbs and curfews one after another in view of a sudden upsurge of Covid cases.
