The recent surge in Covid-19 cases prompted the Sikkim state government on Monday to come up with a slew of fresh restrictions in the Himalayan state, especially related to the entry of people, effective from Tuesday to February 10.

Over the past couple of weeks, 250 to 300 fresh Covid cases are being reported in Sikkim every day. Around 20 deaths have been reported in the same tenure. Most of these cases are reported from East Sikkim.

A five-page notification issued by R. Telang, the principal secretary of the state home department, said that anybody entering Sikkim will have to produce an RT-PCR negative certificate not older than 72 hours. Otherwise, the person concerned will have to undergo a rapid antigen test at the entry points of Sikkim like Rangpo and Melli and at Pakyong, the Himalayan state’s sole airport.

“There are, however, certain relaxations. This test will be waived for government employees, the defence forces and persons such drivers and others who commute daily. However, as far as the drivers are concerned, the state government will conduct their rapid tests once every seven days in order to check the spread of the contagion,” said a source.

The notification also says that those working in pharmaceutical companies and power and rail projects must produce an RT-PCR negative report or must stay quarantined at their respective sites for a period of seven days.

To reduce the entry of vehicles, the Sikkim government has worked out an odd-even arrangement effective from Tuesday, added a source.

“It means that vehicles with odd registration numbers will run on odd dates and vehicles with even numbers will run on even dates, both in case of intrastate and interstate movements. However, this rule will not apply in case of commercial goods vehicles, vehicles carrying essential commodities, government and defence vehicles and luxury taxis,” the source added.

The Sikkim state government has also prohibited all social, political and entertainment-related gatherings.

“Such steps are necessary to control the steep rise in the number of Covid-19 cases. These restrictions, coupled with the other ongoing efforts such as increasing the number of Covid-19 tests and the marking containment zones, can help in bringing down the number of active patients,” said an official of the state.