After UP, Haryana govt makes masks mandatory in 4 NCR districts amid spike in Covid-19 cases

Taking a serious view over the increase in cases of Covid in parts of the state, the Haryana government on Monday again made it mandatory to wear face masks in four districts of the National Capital Region (NCR), namely Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonepat, and Jhajjar.

Stating that the people not wearing masks would be fined, state health minister Anil Vij while interacting with newspersons said that in view of the increasing cases of Covid, the face masks had been made mandatory in four districts of Haryana adjoining NCR.

Referring to the daily Covid bulletin, the home minister said that out of 238 cases of corona reported in the state on Monday, 198 were from Gurugram and about 22 cases are from Faridabad, though the rest more than half of the total 23 districts in Haryana did not report any case of the Corona.

He added that a team had been sent by him to Gurugram to study the reasons behind the increasing cases of Coronavirus and the report of this study was yet to come. "But at present, as a precaution, it has been made mandatory to apply face masks in four districts of Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonipat, and Jhajjar adjacent to Delhi, and the one who would not wear the mask would be fined," he said.

He said that while the teams had been formed to visit areas of Gurugram from where the maximum cases of the corona were reported, samples had been sent to the post-graduate institute of medical science (PGIMS), Rohtak, to know the variant of the virus, according to which further preparations would be made. "We are fully prepared, our staff is ready, our equipment, beds, and oxygen are adequate, yet the people should also be alert this time," he added.

It may be recalled that the Haryana government had on April 3, 2022, withdrawn its order making it mandatory for people to wear masks in public places and workplaces adding that no penalty of Rs. 500 would be imposed on people for not wearing face-mask in such places.

Earlier in the day, Uttar Pradesh government also made it compulsory to wear face masks in public places in the capital Lucknow as well as Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Meerut, Bulandshahr, Baghpat on Monday.

Meanwhile, in response to a question regarding the announcement of the free electricity supply of 300 units a month in Punjab, he said that whichever country had followed the freebies policy had not survived and become hollow giving the recent example of Sri Lanka.

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