Mumbai: The Mumbai Police have begun checking and imposing fines on motorists who are found travelling without face masks in the light of a new variant of COVID, Omicron, surfacing. Police have been conducting checks on nakabandi points across the WEH and EEH, among city roads.
Amid the risk of spreading a new variant, Omicron, which has apparently originated in South Africa, has once again brought to the fore the importance to wear a face mask and use hand sanitizers to ensure safety from the latest COVID variant. The police have started a drive wherein the motorists found without a mask are asked to shed a fine of ₹500 instead of ₹200.
A senior official said that after the second wave of COVID-19 and people getting vaccinated against the virus, the use of masks and sanitizers had drastically declined, increasing the risk of spread. The people found without a face mask on two wheelers, autorickshaws or private vehicles will be charged ₹500, while the taxi driver will be charged ₹1,000 as a fine.
The police stations across the city have been instructed to aggravate the action initiated on those found without masks, which is why a police team will be checking at all posts across the city on main and internal roads to keep the COVID spread under control.
In the light of the latest variant, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has issued orders making it mandatory for scrutinizing the passports for all international travellers arriving in Mumbai. The immigration counter will check the travel history of the last two weeks for these passengers.
Travellers who test positive for Covid-19 will be sent to institutional quarantine. Their samples will be sent for genome sequencing, mentioned in the new BMC directives. All international travellers arriving in Mumbai will be mandatorily home quarantined even if they test negative.
