DW BUREAU / Amritsar All those attending social gatherings in Amritsar will now have to show a COVID-19 negative report or proof that they have been vaccinated, the district administration has announced as it steps up vigilance to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. Amritsar Deputy Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Khaira passed the order on Sunday. "The ceiling of 100 people (for indoor) and 200 people (for outdoor) on various indoor and outdoor social/religious/sports/entertainment/cultural gatherings shall be strictly enforced. "Fines shall be imposed for violation of above ceiling limit on the organisers and the persons found violating social distancing and are without face masks at such gatherings," the order stated. "The organisers of such events shall ensure that any person attending such event should be either tested negative for coronavirus, 72 hours prior to the event, or should have been vaccinated and carries its proof," it said. "All the sub-divisional magistrates and their police counterparts will ensure that these directions are strictly followed in their sub divisions by regularly visiting marriage palaces, restaurants, among others," according to the order. The Amritsar deputy commissioner also directed that fines would be imposed on people roaming at crowded places without wearing masks and that they would be tested for COVID-19 on the spot. "Fines shall also be imposed on shopkeepers and customers for not wearing masks and they will also be tested for COVID-19," the order said.Amritsar has 891 active coronavirus cases as on Sunday. Punjab is witnessing a surge in such cases. The state's infection count has reached 1,97,755, with 6,072 fatalities so far. During a review meeting on Sunday, Punjab Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan had expressed concern over the surge in cases in recent weeks and also exhorted the officials to spruce up all the necessary arrangements and remain in top gear to effectively tackle the up-swing in infections. She had appealed to the people to shun complacency and adopt COVID appropriate behaviour and help the government in tackling the pandemic.Punjab has closed all schools and Anganwadi centres to curb the spread of the disease. There was no let-up in surge in COVID-19 cases in Punjab as 1,843 fresh infections pushed the tally to 1,99,573, while the death toll rose to 6,099 with 27 more fatalities, according to a medical bulletin issued on Monday. The number of active cases also increased from 11,550 on Sunday to 11,942 on Monday. Jalandhar reported a maximum 372 fresh COVID-19 cases, Hoshiarpur 238, Ludhiana 226, Mohali and SBS Nagar 164 each, and Amritsar 147. The recovery count reached 1,81,532 after 1,399 more novel coronavirus patients were discharged after recovering, the bulletin said. There are 26 critical COVID-19 patients who are on ventilator support while 258 are on oxygen support, it said. A total of 53,93,825 samples have been collected for COVID-19 testing so far in the state, it said. Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu instructed all civil surgeons to motivate COVID-19 patients for early treatment at the health facilities. In an official statement here, the minister said it was found that in 77.90 per cent COVID-19 cases, patients visit hospitals with severe symptoms at a late stage which is a major cause of high case fatality rate of the state. Meanwhile, Chandigarh reported 148 more cases, taking the infection count to 23,244, according to a medical bulletin. No coronavirus-related death was reported in the past 24-hours. The toll stands at 358, the bulletin said. The number of active cases rose from 1,088 on Sunday to 1,166 on Monday, it said. Seventy more novel coronavirus patients were discharged after they recovered from the infection, taking the number of recoveries to 21,720, according to the bulletin. A total of 2,80,183 samples have been taken for COVID-19 testing so far and of them, 2,55,961 tested negative while reports of 137 samples are awaited, the bulletin said. India recorded 26,291 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, its highest single-day spike in 85 days, taking the country's infection tally to 1,13,85,339, according to Union health ministry data. The death toll due to the disease increased to 1,58,725 with 118 more fatalities being recorded in a day, the data updated at 8 am showed.Registering an upward trend for five days in a row, the total active caseload has gone up to 2,19,262 which is 1.93 per cent of the total infections in the country, while the recovery rate has dropped to 96.68 per cent, the data stated. As many as 26,624 infections were recorded in a span of 24 hours on December 20. (editor@dailyworld.in)