With rising cases of Covid-19 and related deaths in Delhi over the past two weeks, the government has made the wearing of face masks in all public places mandatory and said a fine of Rs 500 will be imposed on violators.
Earlier this year, it had been decided in a Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) meeting that the mask mandate in public places would remain but people would not be penalised for not wearing one. In April, however, as the number of Covid-19 cases started rising, the DDMA decided to bring back the fines. However, the implementation of the mandate has been lax since then.
Delhi reported 2,146 Covid-19 cases and eight deaths on Wednesday. The positivity rate—the proportion of samples tested that return positive—was 17.83 per cent.
