Travelling to Sikkim? Govt relaxes travel curbs for vaccinated tourists

The Sikkim government has decided to relax the Covid-induced restrictions in the state, increasing the opening hours for commercial establishments. As per the latest orders, businesses can remain open till 8 pm, instead of the earlier deadline of 5 pm. Tourist vehicles and two-wheelers have also been exempted from the odd-even rationing scheme. In addition to this, tourists who have got their first dose of the vaccination have also been allowed to enter the state. However, private vehicles and taxis ferrying locals will have to comply with the odd-even regulation. The government has said that those who are willing to enter the state with a single-dose vaccination will have to produce a Covid-negative certificate of RT-PCR test conducted within 72 hours, they said. Those who have taken both doses would not need to produce any test certificate. Those below 18 years will have to show Covid-negative certificate of RT-PCR test, officials said. The government also allowed casinos in hotels for in-house customers. Covid situation in state Sikkim's Covid-19 tally rose to 28,425 on Friday as 150 more people tested positive for the infection, as per the state health bulletin. South Sikkim registered the highest number of new cases at 81, followed by West Sikkim (36) and East Sikkim (33), it said. The Himalayan state now has 2,345 active cases, while 25,441 people have recovered from the disease, 360 patients have succumbed to the infection and 279 have migrated to other states so far. The recovery rate among the coronavirus patients in the state stands at 90.4%, it said. Sikkim has thus far tested over 2.16 lakh samples for Covid-19, including 1,379 in the last 24 hours, the bulletin said, adding that the positivity rate stands at 10.8%.