Bengaluru:
With Christmas and New Year 2022 round the corner and rapid spike in Omicron cases, the Karnataka government has on Tuesday said no parties and mass gatherings would be allowed in the state from December 30 to January 2.
Notably, this is for the second consecutive year celebrations for New Year and Christmas have been restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown.
“In light of the COVID-19 cases and advice of our technical advisory committee (TAC) experts, we have decided to ban all mass gatherings for New Year celebrations and special events by inviting disc jockeys (DJ) and dance events in hotels, pubs and restaurants to ring-in the New Year,” Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said.
He further said, “We have restricted public celebration of new year, however, celebrations are permitted in clubs and restaurants with 50 per cent seating capacity without any special event like DJ.”
In apartments too, there will be no parties or DJs and residents’ associations will have to ensure that the rules and norms are not violated by people.
The Chief Minister held a meeting with experts regarding the new year celebrations, keeping in view the COVID-19 and Omicron related cases.
On the recommendation of experts, the Karnataka government has decided to restrict mass gatherings across the state.
For Christmas celebrations, the Karnataka government said there won’t be any restriction on hosting the midnight mass within the Church but crowding and public masses will be barred.
“We have no problem with mass being conducted inside the Churches, with proper social distancing norms being followed and other COVID-19 appropriate norms being followed. However, the prayers being held in large numbers outside will not be allowed,” said CM Bommai.
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