Bengaluru: Amid a rapid spike in cases of coronavirus across Karnataka, the state government has made it mandatory for the public to wear masks with immediate effect. The order which was issued by the health commissioner mandated the wearing of masks in all public places, buses, private vehicles, malls, educational institutions. It further mentioned that restaurants, pubs, hotels, hostels, offices (private, public) factories staff should also wear masks compulsorily.
The order also authorized the health department to take necessary action to implement the rules with the help of Marshals and Police. Earlier the Bengaluru civic agency had made masks compulsory in public places and decided to increase the tests for the virus from the existing 16,000 a day to 20,000 a day.
Every day, more than 200 new Covid cases are being reported and we are conducting 16,000 tests. Now, Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath has asked us to increase the tests to 20,000 from 16,000 by the BBMP and 4,000 at the private labs.
Since many cases of severe acute respiratory illness and influenza-like illness are coming in private clinics, the chief commissioner has asked BBMP officials to survey each zone and submit a report, the officer said. He, however, appealed to the people not to panic.
Karnataka breached the 400 mark in daily Covid cases as the state logged 471 fresh infections, taking the number of total active cases to 2,880, of which 2,776 are in Bengaluru.
