Chandigarh announces new Covid curbs: Restaurants, banquet halls to run at 50% capacity

All restaurants in Chandigarh, including hotels, coffee shops and eateries, have been ordered to run at 50% capacity, said the union territory administration on Sunday. The same rules apply to marriage palaces and banquet halls as well. In addition to this, only those who have taken both doses of vaccine will be allowed entry into these establishments. This comes a day after neighbouring Haryana ordered the closure of cinema halls, sports complexes, swimming pools, and entertainment parks in Gurugram, Faridabad, Ambala, Panchkula and Sonepat from 2 to 12 January. According to an official order, all the sports complexes, swimming pools, and stadia shall remain closed except when being used for training of sportspersons for participation in national and international sports events. "Government and private offices, except for emergency or essential services have been advised to function with 50% staff attendance. Malls and markets will be allowed to open till 5 pm, while bars and restaurants will be allowed to operate at 50% seating capacity," the order read. It further said, "Only fully-vaccinated people are allowed to enter at places like markets, public transport, religious places, bars, restaurants, etc." Covid situation in UT Chandigarh on Saturday recorded its highest single-day spike since June as 70 more people tested positive, taking the total number of active cases in the City to 236. As many as eight patients were cured of the disease in the past 24 hours. The city had reported 49 new cases and no new death on Friday. Haryana on Friday saw the biggest single-day jump of 26 cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus that pushed its tally of such infections to 63. Of the total 63 cases, 23 are active while the rest have been discharged.