Madhya Pradesh: Indore people roaming in public places without masks sent to jail

Representational Image: ZeeNews

Indore: People roaming in public places without masks in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases, are being sent to a temporary jail in Madhya Pradesh's Indore city. 

According to reports, a community guest house in the Snehlataganj area of the city is being designated as a temporary jail, following the directives of the local administration. As many as 15 personnel have been deputed in the temporary jail to keep a watch on prisoners and CCTV cameras are also installed in it, Rakesh Kumar Bhangre, the superintendent of the central jail, told PTI.

So far, as many as 9,183 people have reportedly been fined in this month for not wearing masks in public places. A total fine of Rs 4.65 lakh has been collected from them, according to a civic official.

"We have ramped up the drive against people not wearing face masks in the wake of a spurt in COVID-19 cases. Such people are being fined from R50 to R 100 individually," the official of Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) quoted as saying by PTI.

Notably, Indore on Tuesday reported a nearly 15 per cent positivity rate. Dr Amit Malakar, District COVID-19 Nodal Officer told ANI, "The positivity rate of Covid is nearing 15 per cent. In March 2021, only a total of 9913 patients were found Corona positive in the Indore district, whereas 29 people died in the same month of March. In March 2020, however, there were a total of 46 cases found with no deaths."

He further said, "On Monday, 805 people were found Covid positive in Indore district taking the total number of Covid cases at 74,029. Of these, 5875 patients continue to be treated in hospitals. However, 977 have succumbed to death," adding "Many people have this notion that, because the vaccine is available, they need not adhere to the Covid-19 guidelines. It is a wrong approach."

Earlier on Monday, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan chaired a high-level review meeting with Health Ministers, Additional Chief Secretaries and Principal Secretaries (Health) of States/UTs of Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Rajasthan.

These states have been reporting a very high rise in daily coronavirus cases and daily COVID-19 mortality in the last two weeks. 

(With Agency Inputs)