Owing to the spike in Covid-19 cases across the country, after Delhi and Tamil Nadu, now Kerala has also made masks mandatory. The government issued an order on Wednesday making face masks compulsory in all public places and warned offenders with fines and other actions.
The state lifted restrictions in March after the Centre had directed the states to ensure normal situation in view of dip in the cases. Later, the state stopped its daily Covid-19 bulletin, inviting sharp criticism from the Union government.
Two weeks back, Union health ministry wrote to the state to resume Covid-19 daily statistics and ramp up its pandemic control measures. In the letter written by joint secretary Luv Agarwal to the state health secretary Rajan Khobragade the former said that diligent and timely reporting of cases is critical to arrive at a conclusion on pandemic condition at different levels. Quick and continuous data will help design strategies and plans at district, state and national levels, he said. He asked the state to release its Covid-data daily so as to update the national dash board and its latest move to give only weekly roundup was affecting the national chart also.