The popular wildlife reserves in India including Jim Corbett and the Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand have banned all the tourist activities till March 31 as a precautionary measure to stop the spread of Coronavirus. As per the updated list, the deadly virus has killed over 7987 people and infected nearly 198426 people across the globe.
As per an order released by the Chief Wildlife Warden Rajiv Bharatari, tourism activities in national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, zoos and tiger reserves have been shut down from March 17 to March 31. Not only this, the entry in the Rajaji elephant reserve has also been banned till March 31.
In addition, the Corbett Tiger Reserve Director Rahul also said that tourists who had made their bookings for safaris will be refunded for the bookings made for that period. Also, all the other activities such as filming and research work have also stopped completely till March 31, under Section 28 of the Wildlife (Conservation) Act 1972.
The order is applicable to famous wildlife parks including Corbett National Park, Rajaji Tiger Reserve, Gangotri National Park, Binog and Binsar wildlife sanctuaries in Uttarakhand.
As per the order, this temporary ban of tourist activities follows similar steps taken by Assam, Maharashtra and Kerala in order to put a control on the spread of COVID-19. This is not only for the safety of tourists but also for the safety of employees, officials and people nearby.