After rise in COVID cases, IFTPC issues a letter to TV producers

The wrath of COVID-19 has been immense lately and while the rising numbers in several cities in India is enough to confirm the same, the recent unfortunate trend of mulitple actors having tested positive for COVID-19 has only affirmed it all the more. For the past week, almost every day has been about reporting one actor or the other testing positive for COVID-19.

Owing to the same, the Indian Film and Television Producers Council (IFTPC) has issued a letter to all the broadcasters and producers reiterating the importance of following all the guidelines to the T. The letter also comprises a few fresh norms. 

IFTPC’s Chairman (TV Div), JD Majethia informs, “We have issued a letter to all the broadcasters and producers to visit the set personally and make sure that Covid-19 protocols are diligently followed. The broadcasters are also supposed to send their Covid inspectors regularly on the set. It is important that we take extra care, so that we don’t have to face the same problem that we did last year. In fact, we sent out this letter on March 18, and coincidentally last year we had sent a letter to everyone on the same date to stop all the shoots. Since we don’t want to be in that same situation, we have asked the makers to take all the precautions, and they are all following the guidelines too. Right from Anupama to Wagle Ki Duniya & Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, everyone’s following the norms.”

He further added, “We are not ruling out the possibility of cases coming on sets, but the way we have fought for the entire year we will continue doing the same, so that we can minimise the cases on our sets. In fact, we have also written to the channels to inform their creative teams to not insist on any outdoor shoots at this point, or anywhere else where there may be more crowd. We need to shoot in control. So yes, we have basically requested everyone to follow the guidelines that were issued by the government last year."