Wearing Masks Mandatory Again As Delhi Records Over 1K Covid-19 Cases
The Delhi government on Wednesday made it mandatory to wear masks at public places, said Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal as the national capital witnessed a surge in Covid-19 cases over the past few days.
The government imposed also imposed a fine of Rs 500 for failing to conform to the rule.
Schools in Delhi will however continue in offline mode, with the management tasked to ensure strict adherence to Covid-19 protocols, reported ANI.
In a series of tweets, the Lieutenant Governor informed that the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) decided in its 36th meeting today decided to come up with a separate Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for schools in consultation with experts.
Baijal said, “It was also emphasised that in consultation with experts standard operating procedures for prevention and management of COVID-19 should be laid down for schools and their strict enforcement by school management should be ensured.”
“In the larger interest of students, in case of non-compliance or violation of SOPs penalty as deemed appropriate should be imposed for creating a deterrent effect. Advised all the agencies to remain vigilant and work in coordination to tackle the situation as it emerges,” he added.
Adhering to expert’s advice, a decision was taken to enhance testing, focus on vaccination coverage of the targeted population and ensure strict enforcement of Covid-19 appropriate behavior.
Chaired by the Lieutenant Governor, the meeting to review the Covid-19 situation in Delhi was attended by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Minister Revenue K Gahlot, Chief Secretary, Dr Randeep Guleria-Director AIIMS, Dr SK Singh-NCDC and other senior officers.
Notably, Delhi has been witnessing a sudden surge in Covid-19 cases. Yesterday, the national capital recorded a total of 632 fresh cases, reporting more than 500 daily infections for the third consecutive day.
Meanwhile, Delhi today reported 1,009 new cases of the virus in the last 24 hours, a rise of about 60 per cent from yesterday. It is the most number of daily cases recorded since February 10 in the Union territory with the positivity rate also going up to 5.7 per cent.