The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday revised its guidelines for public gatherings and limited the number of guests at wedding ceremonies to a maximum of 100, reported PTI. This is down from 200 guests, which the government had permitted on October 15, but with proper safety protocols.

A first information report will be registered against those found violating the guidelines, said the state government order issued by Chief Secretary Rajendra Tiwari, according to the Hindustan Times. The order also underlined that these gatherings can only be held outside containment zones.

Additional Chief Secretary, Medical and Health, Amit Mohan Prasad told reporters that if a marriage hall’s capacity is 100 or less, then the number of guests can only be 50% of that figure. The guidelines would also be applicable to other public gatherings, he said.

In case of outdoor programmes, less than 40% of the area of the venue will be allowed to be occupied by people, Prasad said. However, in both the scenarios, use of face masks, sanitisers, thermal scanning and maintaining physical distancing remain will be mandatory.

Prasad added that the Uttar Pradesh government will conduct random checking on people travelling to the state by rail, bus or air.

On the status of Covid-19 cases, Prasad said 2,067 new infections were reported in 24 hours on Monday, taking the state’s tally to 5,28,833. The toll rose by 23 to 7,582.

The official added that barring five districts, cases have come down in other regions of the state. These five districts are Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Kanpur and Lucknow.

Across India, 91,39,865 cases have been reported till Monday, with 44,059 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours. The toll rose by 511 to 1,33,738. As many as 85,62,641 people have recovered so far.