Telangana issues orders for ₹ 1,000 penalty on not wearing mask

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Telangana issues orders for ₹ 1,000 penalty on not wearing mask
Telangana government on Saturday made it mandatory for people across the state to wear masks while stepping out into public placesTOI
Hyderabad, April 11 (IANS) The Telangana government on Sunday ordered that not wearing face mask in public places will attract a penalty of Rs 1,000.
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Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar issued directions to all Collectors/District Magistrates and Commissioners and Superintendents of Police in the state to strictly implement the order.

The Government Order (GO) was issued on a day when the state reported the highest-ever single day count of Covid cases.

According to the Health Department, the state reported 3,187 new cases during the last 24 hours. The new infections pushed the state's cumulative tally to 3,27,278.

Seven more people succumbed to the virus during the last 24 hours that ended 8 p.m. Saturday, taking the death toll to 1,759. According to the director of public health and family welfare, the fatality rate remains at 0.53 per cent against the national average of 1.30 per cent.

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The number of active cases jumped to 20,184, including 13,366 who are in home/institutional isolation.

A total of 787 people recovered from the pandemic during the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative recoveries to 3,05,335. The recovery rate has slipped further to 93.29 per cent but still above the national average of 90.4 per cent.

The government on March 27 had issued an order making wearing of face mask mandatory in all public places, workspaces and means of transport. The order was issued to check the spread of Covid-19 in view of the surge in infections.

It was also mandated that any deviation in this regard shall attract prosecution under section 51 to 60 of Disaster Management Act, 2005 and section 188 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as other applicable laws.

However, there was no strict enforcement of the GO issued last month. Police had clarified that it is trying to create awareness before beginning the enforcement.

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Last week, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had said that a person not wearing a mask in public will be fined Rs 1,000 and asked the police strictly enforce mask-on rule.

He had said that wearing of masks should be enforced strictly to contain the spread of the pandemic.

"If the people do not wear masks they should be fined Rs 1,000 per person," he said, telling the Director General of Police to instruct the Police Department to enforce this mask rule stringently.

The Chief Minister urged the people to follow all the Covid guidelines, wear masks, take all precautions, and be alert to contain the spread of Covid.

Telangana also hit by Covid vaccine shortage

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Telangana has also joined the states facing shortage of Covid-19 vaccines as the state government has urged the Centre to immediately provide at least 30 lakh doses.

Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar wrote to the Union Health Secretary that the state was left with only 5.66 lakh doses of vaccine which would last for three days at maximum.

"Covid-19 vaccination has been ramped up in the state. Due to concerted efforts, the number of vaccinations in the state, in one day, crossed 1.15 lakh yesterday. In the coming days this will be enhanced to over two lakh per day," Somesh Kumar wrote in a letter dated April 10.
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