All tourists visiting Nainital, Mussoorie to be tested for Coronavirus after Uttarakhand HC order

The Uttarakhand High Court has ordered mandatory COVID-19 test of tourists visiting Nainital and Mussoorie.

In an order dated December 9, Acting Chief Justice Ravi Kumar Malimath and Justice Ravindra Maithani of the high court said tourists visiting the two popular tourist towns be tested for coronavirus at the time of entry.

The order to resume testing of tourists comes ahead of Christmas and New Year holidays when large inflow of tourists is expected in Nainital and Mussoorie.

COVID-19 cases have risen in Uttarakhand after the compulsory requirement for tourists to produce a negative RT-PCR report while entering the state was removed in September to boost tourism.

Uttarakhand’s COVID-19 tally rose to 81,211 on Friday with 725 more people testing positive for the virus, while nine more deaths raised the toll from the pandemic to 1,341 in the state, according to a bulletin.

Dehradun district reported a maximum of 256 fresh COVID-19 cases, Nainital 115, Pauri 79, Chamoli 57, Pithoragarh 55, Haridwar 43, Udham Singh Nagar 30, Uttarkashi 21, Almora 20, Bageshwar 18, Rudraprayag 18 and Tehri 13, the state health department bulletin issued here said.

A total of 72,987 people have recovered from the infection in Uttarakhand, 949 have migrated out of the state and 5,934 are under treatment, it said.