Fourth wave scare: These cities make wearing of mask mandatory amid Covid-19 surge in Delhi

The sudden rise in coronavirus infections in the national capital has forced many states to bring back mandatory mask mandates.

New Delhi: Following an increasing trend in Covid-19 cases in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR), some neighbouring states have once again made the mask mandatory in public places in many of their districts. 

Amid the fear of the fourth wave of Covid-19, the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana on Monday (April 18, 2022) decided to bring back the mask mandates in some of their districts. These mask mandates will apply to everyone in the city, especially schools.

UP makes mask compulsory in 6 NCR districts, Lucknow

The Uttar Pradesh government made it compulsory for people to wear a face mask in public places in the capital Lucknow and six NCR districts amid a rise in Covid cases in some adjoining states, an official said.

The increase in Covid cases has had an impact on the districts falling under the national capital region (NCR). Keeping this in mind, the government has made use of masks mandatory in public places in Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Meerut, Bulandshahr, Baghpat as well as capital Lucknow, an official spokesperson said here.

In the last 24 hours, 65 new Covid cases have been confirmed in Gautam Buddh Nagar, 20 in Ghaziabad and 10 in Lucknow, the official said, adding that the chief minister has ordered “close monitoring” of the situation.

Haryana makes mask compulsory in 4 NCR districts

The Haryana government made the wearing of a face mask mandatory in four districts falling in the National Capital region. The decision was taken after the state recorded 234 cases on Monday, out of which 198 surfaced in Gurugram alone while 21 were from Faridabad. 

Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij said in view of the rise in Covid cases over the past a few days in Gurugram, the wearing of a mask has been made compulsory there and three other districts of Faridabad, Sonipat and Jhajjar.

"But in more than half of the districts, cases are nil or very less," Vij said. "However, as a precautionary measure in the districts which lie close to the national capital, we have made the wearing of a mask compulsory," he said.

The wearing of masks will be mandatory with immediate effect. Those not wearing a mask will be fined, he said.

DDMA meet tomorrow

Meanwhile, DDMA is scheduled to meet on Wednesday and is likely to discuss the mandatory use of face masks and hybrid mode of offline and online teaching for school children, in view of the rising number of infections in the past many days.

(With PTI inputs)