The Union health ministry on Tuesday urged people 65 years or older, children 10 years or younger, people with underlying health disorders and pregnant women to stay away from public gatherings for worship, festivities, exhibitions, fairs, or rallies in the coming months.

The ministry released a set of standard operating procedures for festivities that also prohibit any events within containment zones and call on all people living within containment zones to observe festivals inside their homes.

The SOPs for festivities come amid a downward trend in daily new cases nationwide observed over the past two weeks, but lingering concerns that crowding during the upcoming festive season from October through December could trigger fresh surges in cases.

India’s seven-day average daily new case count has fallen at a near-steady level from around 97,800 on September 16 to 77,100 on October 5. But health officials and medical experts are worried about a rise through crowding during festivals.

Kerala’s daily counts increased since Onam.

The rules discourage any choir or group singing, citing concerns about the risk of spread of the coronavirus.

“As far as feasible, recorded devotional music or songs may be played and choir and singing groups should not be allowed,” the rules specify.

Anecdotal evidence and scientific studies have pointed to singing as a significant source of spread of the virus.

In one event in the US, 32 of 61 people who had attended a two-and-a-half hour choir session with one symptomatic person became infected.

A Swedish study last month examining aerosol dispersion had shown through experiments that singing — particularly loud and consonant-rich singing — could spread droplets.

The health ministry rules specify that face masks will be mandatory for all people in public places, individuals will need to maintain at least six feet from each other, and no one with any respiratory symptoms should be allowed into venues.

The events’ organisers would need to arrange personal protective equipment such as face masks and hand sanitisers for staff, facilitate sufficient numbers of ticket counters to maintain physical distancing norms and make provisions for “contactless payments.”

Organisers of exhibitions, fairs, puja mandals, Ramlila pandals, concerts and plays would need to ensure caps on the numbers of people entering the venue through staggered timings or restrictions on the number of entries.