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Maharashtra minister warns mask rule will be back if Covid cases rise
While the state has the highest number of overall cases in the country with over 78.7 lakh infections registered so far, the daily tally has been below 200 since late March.
Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope on Sunday said if coronavirus cases continue to surge in the state, the mandatory mask rule will return. “If Covid19 cases continue to rise, then we will have to make the wearing of masks compulsory. Our aim is to speed up vaccination and will take all possible steps to ensure the vaccination of children,” the state minister was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
While the state has the highest number of overall cases in the country with over 78.7 lakh infections registered so far, the daily tally has been below 200 since late March. On Saturday, it reported 155 new coronavirus cases and one death. This took the overall tally to 78,77,732 and death toll to 1,47,843, the state health department said.
Also read: States, UTs which made masks compulsory
On Wednesday, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had appealed to people to use face masks when outdoors, adding that necessary precautions were important to restrict a possible “fourth wave of the pandemic at the doorstep”. Thackeray's call came after he held a review meeting with several top officials - divisional commissioners, municipal commissioners, zilla parishad CEOs and top police officias on Covid.
"The threat of Covid-19 was not yet over. We need to arrest the spread of infection while it is at the doorstep," he said, claiming there are "40 crore people in China's various cities who are witnessing a lockdown.”
As the number of daily Covid-19 cases is showing an uptick, several states in India have decided to bring back the mask rule and follow Covid appropriate behaviour. Curbs were eased earlier after an alarming third-wave driven surge in January peaked and daily tally went down.
Kerala on Wednesday also brought back the rule of mandatory mask-wearing in public places.
(With inputs from ANI)
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