Sikkim Chief Secretary S C Gupta
on Sunday called for maintaining utmost vigilance and ensuring compliance of all the guidelines to keep COVID-19 at bay in the state.
The tiny border state of Sikkim with a population of more than six lakhs is one of the few COVID-19-free states of the country.
Presiding over a state task force meeting, Gupta said that the need of the hour was to be vigilant and adhere to all the guidelines of the central and state governments to keep the state free from the clutches of the deadly novel coronavirus.
The chief secretary reviewed the evacuation process and expressed satisfaction at the process of screening and quarantine of returnees over the last few days.
He said that the Centre was likely to make provision for special trains for northeastern states to evacuate the people stranded across the country.
The chief secretary said that after the authorities relaxed some lockdown regulations, Sikkim has fared much better than other states in terms of resumption of economic activities.
It was evident from the data provided by the district collectors that most of the labourers are preferring to stay back in Sikkim, he said.
Gupta emphasized on strict implementation of social distancing norms and said that resumption of normalcy does not mean that people start taking things for granted.
He said that the implementation of 'The Sikkim Public Health and Safety (COVID-19) Regulations, 2020' as a regulatory measure for containment of COVID-19 in Sikkim, makes violation of social distancing norms and not wearing masks in public places a punishable offence.
The chief secretary issued strict directives to all the district collectors and superintendents of police to strictly implement the rules and ensure that social distancing norms are not violated.
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