Acting tough against people who do not wear masks, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to increase the fine five times and now the violators would have to cough up Rs 500. Earlier it was Rs 100 for first two violations and then Rs 500 from third time violation.
Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said that notification regarding this would be issued at the earliest.
“Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed concern over violation of Epidemic Diseases Act as well as the guidelines of Unlock 2.0 and has asked the authorities to increase the fine for not wearing face masks in public. Following this, the government has proposed to increase the fine for not wearing a face mask to Rs 500,” Prasad said.
He said that soon a fresh notification would be issued in which the fine for not wearing a face mask in public would be increased to Rs 500. “The chief minister has appealed to people not to go out of their houses and follow the Unlock guidelines in letter and spirit. Staying inside the house will keep them and their family safe from coronavirus,” he said.
Prasad said that wearing a face mask in public was the most important step to prevent the spread of coronavirus and people should make it a habit.
Already 1.17 lakh people have been fined and Rs 6.52 crore collected from them for not wearing face mask in public. Several of the offenders have been fined repeatedly for violation of the Epidemic Diseases Act.
Prasad said that the government had warned people of being more cautious as the number of coronavirus cases was going up fast as the number of tests had gone up.
“People have been asked to strictly follow the preventive measures like wearing masks, washing hand frequently and maintaining social distancing,” he said.
There are 9,514 active cases in the state while 19,627 COVID-19 patients have recovered, including 518 who were discharged from hospital on Tuesday.
There are 9,530 people in isolation wards of Covid hospitals and 4,444 in institutional quarantine.
“On Monday 30,329 tests were carried out and with this the total Covid tests in the state have gone up to 9,22,049. Of the total tests done on Monday, 2,184 were 5-sample pool tests and 317 10-sample pool tests. In the 5-sample pools, 258 were found positive and in the 10-sample pools, 55 were found positive,” he said.
Till Tuesday, 1.61 lakh health teams have covered 1.45 crore houses in the state to screen over 5.99 crore people of their health in 26,411 areas.
Prasad said door-to-door surveillance was underway in the entire state and the health teams were recording the details of the people, particularly of the ailing and those with comorbid conditions.