JOIN USHere's why there are no fines for mask violations in Karnataka
Karnataka has chosen not to penalise people who do not wear masks because the Covid-19 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) suggested so.
While 10 states have made mask-wearing mandatory, only Delhi (Rs 500), Tamil Nadu (Rs 500), Telangana (Rs 1,000) and Andhra Pradesh (Rs 100) are penalising the violators.
A top officer in the state Health Department had earlier told DH that Karnataka didn’t follow other states in mask mandates because that would go against the Centre’s letter to not impose any Covid curbs after March 31 under the Disaster Management Act.
In an order dated March 8 this year, Health Secretary T K Anil Kumar asked citizens to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour in apartment complexes, wear masks in closed spaces except while eating and drinking, and strictly follow home isolation.
On Monday, Chief Secretary P Ravi Kumar issued an order mandating mask-wearing.
Talking about the significance of the mask mandate, a TAC member who attended the meeting called by the chief minister said the police and marshals can now ask citizens to wear masks, which they were unable to do currently.
“Now people can be coaxed or persuaded to wear masks. Maybe at a later stage, we can levy penalties. But TAC members were very clear on not imposing penalties. In governance, we need the goodwill of the people and should not anger them. With only six Covid patients in the city’s hospitals, we didn’t know how appropriate it is to levy fines,” the member said.
Fourth wave from June-Oct
Citing a model prepared by IIT Kanpur, the TAC said the fourth Covid wave was expected to start on June 22, peak on August 23 and end on October 24.
Foreign arrivals to be tracked
The Health Department will make regular phone calls to travellers who arrive in Karnataka from Japan and Thailand in order to track respiratory symptoms via tele monitoring.
From April 1 to 13, 1,842 passengers arrived in Karnataka from Thailand and 182 passengers from Japan.
At present, there are bi-weekly flights from Bengaluru to Japan. From May 1, there will be daily flights. Besides, there is a daily Thai Airways flight to the city from Thailand.
At the meeting with the chief minister, the TAC members also urged the government to convince citizens to come forward to take the precautionary dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.
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