ICMR advises 'responsible' travel ahead of festival season

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has advised states to check complete vaccination certificates or a recent Covid negative certificate to allow hotel stay at tourist destinations that are likely to see an increase in footfall during the upcoming festival season.

The apex medical research council warned that a rise in population density driven by tourist arrivals or mass congregations due to social, religious or political events could lead to a surge in Covid-19 infections worsening an anticipated third wave scenario in selected states.

The states that are particularly at risk are popular tourist destinations like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand in northwest India and Darjeeling district in West Bengal and Assam in the east.

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Appealing to people to resort to “responsible travel” rather than “revenge travel”, it said individuals with Covid like symptoms such as prolonged dry cough or loss of smell and taste should not travel.

While recognising the importance of domestic tourism to boost the local economy shattered by the two Covid-19 waves, the ICMR researchers including its director-general Balram Bhargava underscored the importance of identifying and mitigating the risks involved in reckless tourism as the threat of a third wave looms.

Such reckless travel is particularly worrying when it involves Himalayan mountain towns, which not only are less population-dense but also have previously imposed restrictions effectively controlling transmission. They would now see a substantial increase in population density, increasing the risk factor, the team wrote in a research paper published in the Journal of Travel Medicine.

In a typical holiday season, Himachal Pradesh witnesses a 40% rise in its population because of the tourists.

Responsible travel would have several important elements. Amongst visitors at least, responsible mask use and observing social distancing norms could have important effects in mitigating the risk of transmission.

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Also mandating such precautions by the local administration will serve as an important and continuing reminder of the risk of Covid-19.

Conditions on travel could also play a key role, for example, with potential visitors only being eligible to travel if they can show evidence of a recent Covid-negative test. Vaccine status could also play an important role in eligibility to travel.

India has so far administered more than 91 crore doses and covered over 70% of its adult population with a single dose.

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