Full vaccination, COVID negative report mandatory to enter Punjab from Monday

The Punjab government Saturday announced that from Monday the state will allow entry to only those who are either fully vaccinated against coronavirus or have a negative RT-PCR report. The directions, issued after Chief Minister Amarinder Singh held a Covid review meeting, also said there will be strict monitoring of people coming from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu.

According to an official statement, Singh expressed concern about the positivity rate in Himachal Pradesh and other parts of the country, which probably also pushed Punjab's positivity rate marginally up to 0.2 per cent in the last week.

The new restrictions will apply to all those entering Punjab by road, rail or air, the chief minister said, adding if a person does not fulfil either of the criteria, he/she will have to undergo RAT (rapid antigen test) unless they recently recovered from Covid.

Amid reports of Covid cases from schools, the CM also directed that only fully vaccinated teaching and non-teaching staff, or those recently recovered from Covid, physically teach in schools and colleges. Online learning option will remain available to all children, he said.

Several school students have tested positive for coronavirus over the past few days. Punjab has so far reported 5,99,846 coronavirus cases and 16,334 fatalities.