74th Independence Day: Parade participants restrict activities to cut COVID-19 risk

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In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, all the officers of the Army, Navy and Air Force who will be part of the Independence Day ceremony at Red Fort will have to severely restrict their activities.

Days before the August 15 celebration, they are only allowed to go to the rehearsals and return home. Also, their domestic helps, cooks and drivers will have to be in quarantine, reported NDTV, citing sources.

The move has been taken in consideration of the attendance of the prime minister and a number of VIPs in the celebrations, said the report.

According to the report, the nature of the celebration makes it impossible to maintain social distancing rules, which is required amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the authorities have come up with the list of extra precautions, it said.

Also, over 350 Delhi Police personnel who will be part of the guard of honour at Red Fort on Independence Day have been quarantined as a precautionary measure, said officials.

These personnel of the force of all ranks -- from a constable to Deputy Commissioner of Police -- have been quarantined at a newly built police colony in Delhi Cantonment, they said.

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Special Commissioner of Police (Armed Police) Robin Hibu, who is in charge of the arrangements, said the 350 personnel are doing well and none of them has any COVID-19 symptoms. But they have been quarantined as a precautionary measure to ensure theirs as well as everyone else's safety, he said.

"After their parade rehearsals, they immediately sanitise themselves. All precautions are being taken," another senior police officer said.

He said that usually at least 40 police personnel are ferried in a vehicle to parade rehearsals. But this year, owing to COVID-19, only 20 personnel are being ferried in a sanitised vehicle with strict adherence to social distancing norms.

(With inputs from PTI)

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