Maharashtra Makes Masks In Public Places Compulsory

New Delhi: With Maharashtra reporting a surge in COVID-19 cases, the state government has issued an order asking citizens to wear masks in public places except in open spaces.

Additional Chief Secretary, Dr Pradeep Vyas, in a letter to all district authorities, gave out several orders including ones for mandating the wearing of masks in public places. “Mask in closed public spaces like trains, buses, cinemas, auditoriums, offices, hospitals, colleges, schools is a must,” he was quoted as saying.

Due to the rising number of Covid cases the public has been advised to wear masks, he told India Today TV.

“After seeing a sustained decline in the number of Covid-19 cases in the state over the last couple of months, cases have started slowly but steadily increasing and the daily cases have crossed 1,000 for the first time after 3 months on, 1 June, 2022. Currently, Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Thane are seeing a surge in Covid-19 cases but with positivity rate increasing in other districts (Annexure-1), we can expect an increase in cases in other districts as well.”

“In the last week, as many as nine districts have shown growth in the number of new cases as compared to the week preceding that (Annexure-2). ln view of this, steps will need to be taken to keep the surge under control and to keep hospital admissions to minimum,” Vyas wrote in his letter.

Dr Vyas said the state can’t afford to get complacent and needs to take all precautions, especially in view of patients found with BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.