NEW DELHI, Nov 19, 2020 (BSS) – Against the backdrop of severe spike of Covid-19, the Delhi government has announced increase of penalty for not wearing face masks in public places from Rs 500 to Rs 2000 to help control the surge of the daily cases.
“The penalty for not wearing masks in public places will be increased from Rs 500 to Rs 2,000 as lots of people are not wearing masks; since masks are a major saviour against Covid-19,” said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a virtual press conference here today.
According to official sources, a notification in this regard will soon be issued as police and the revenue department will enforce the government directives.
The authorities went on hard line as the daily Covid-19 infection in the national capital had surpassed all previous records by infecting nearly 8,000 people daily.
In the wake of increasing Covid-19 cases, Kejriwal had repeatedly appealed to people with folded hands to wear masks and maintain safety norms.
Experts however, opined that the cases of new infection are increasing in the capital city following the sliding of mercury and air pollution mainly caused by stubble burning in nearby states.
With the surge of Covid-19 cases, the Delhi government had directed all private hospitals to reserve 80% of their ICU beds and 60% of non-ICU beds for Covid-19 patients and postpone dates of non-critical surgeries.
According to data provided by the Union Health Ministry on Thursday, India during the last 24 hours recorded 585 new fatalities while the country’s total death toll was recorded at 1,31,578.
In state-wise cases, Delhi recorded the highest number of new cases during the last couple of days with 7,486 cases. Delhi is followed by Kerala (6,416 cases), Maharashtra (5,011 cases), West Bengal (3,668 cases), Uttar Pradesh (2,346 cases) Karnataka (1,791 cases) and Andhra Pradesh (1,236 cases).
However, the 585 new fatalities include 131 from Delhi, 100 from Maharashtra, 54 from West Bengal, 31 from Punjab, 30 from Haryana, 29 from Uttar Pradesh, 28 from Kerala, 23 from Chhattisgarh and 21 from Karnataka.
In terms of total 1,31,578 fatalities reported so far across the country 46,202 are from Maharashtra, 11,578 from Karnataka,11,531from Tamil Nadu, 7,943 from Delhi,7,820 from West Bengal,7,441from Uttar Pradesh, 6,899 from Andhra Pradesh, 4,541 from Punjab and 3,823 from Gujarat.
More than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities, the union health ministry said.