This Popular 5-star Hotel Emerges as Covid Hotspot in Rishikesh

The Taj Rishikesh and an Art of Living ashram have become a cause of worry for the administration after scores of Covid-19 cases were reported in just three days. The five-star hotel has been closed for 48 hours as a precautionary measure after over 30 of its employees tested positive for COVID-19 over the past three days. The hotel was hosting a total of 140 guests.

Meanwhile, an Art of Living ashram in Rishikesh reported three cases of coronavirus infection in 24 fours.

“The Taj Rishikesh Resort and Spa in Rishikesh’s Byasi area will remain closed for sanitisation for the next 48 hours,” sub divisional magistrate of Narendra Nagar, Yukta Mishra, told The Times of India.

“The order was issued by the district magistrate after too many staffers got Covid-19,” an health official said.

The report quoted a source saying that “the resort started testing its staff after a senior administrator tested positive.”

“Reports of over 80 samples collected from the resort are still pending,” additional chief medical officer of Tehri, Dr Jagdish Joshi said. However, there has been no decision taken about testing the 140 guests there or to move them elsewhere.

“The resort administration may keep the resort shut for longer to protect guests and staffers,” the visiting health official told TOI.

“Most staffers are asymptomatic, but we have kept them in isolation. They are being administered proper treatment. We will send sanitisation teams to the resort on Saturday and Sunday again, and collect more samples for contact tracing,” Joshi said.

Twenty-two tourists from Gujarat who had come in a bus on a 15-day tour of north India via Pushkar, Jaipur, Udaipur, Mathura and Haridwar had tested positive for the virus on March 23. Rising cases of coronavirus at a time when Haridwar prepares for Kumbh which sees a huge gathering of devotees is a cause of concern for the state government.

The Uttarakhand dispensation has made it mandatory for devotees to bring a negative RT-PCR report not older than 72 hours or a coronavirus vaccination certificate with them. Kumbh mela is scheduled to begin on April 1.

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