Let us ring in the new year with rules, not gatherings

Photo for representational purpose. Picture Courtesy/iStock

With the BMC banning New Year parties because of the Omicron threat, it is kaput to party plans as we prepare to turn a wary corner into 2022.

As soon as the Omicron wave hit the world, it looked ominous enough for India, with numbers showing a steady rise, even as reports stated that the variant was not as virulent as the Delta variants. With that said, the numbers could and are spooking those as the transmissibility has been a worrying factor.

As different states in the country started closing down in different ways, the first hit was the social and party season. The BMC too joined, and gatherings for New Year parties now stand cancelled.

We need to adhere to this mandate and venues cannot try and sneak in an event or two. Considering that we are inching close to the 1,000-case mark, that would be disastrous.

Celebrate at home, if you have to, but this too should be done with a lot of caution, few persons and masking and hygiene must be followed. Those with older family members should avoid celebrations with a lot of people at their homes.

There will be a few people, we assume, driving around the streets, even if it is earlier than midnight, having their own mobile celebration. This too should be done with full obedience to the mask mandate, and lesser number of people on board, and of course, COVID or not, alcohol is a no-no, even if not driving.

Let good sense, sobriety and sedate celebrations prevail as we weather a tough time once again. We need not stretch an overworked system, get into confrontations with law-and-order personnel or exacerbate an already difficult situation. The variant has played spoilsport but that is just the way this is right now. Restrictions rather than celebrations, for our own welfare.