Amidst growing cases of COVID-19, the Brihan Mumbai Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday made wearing of masks at public places compulsory, an official release stated.
Issuing a circular, the Mumbai civic body also warned of arrest under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for flouting its order.
“All persons moving out for whatever purpose and for whatever reason in public places like streets, hospitals, offices, markets etc must wear mask or cloth mask,” it stated.
Wearing masks has also been made compulsory for those moving around in their personal or official vehicles.
“Any person, traffic vehicle, working at any site/ office/ workplace must wear the masks as mentioned above.” it said.
The BMC added, “No person/ officer will attend any meeting/ gathering, work place without wearing these masks as mentioned above.”
Mumbai hotspots map. (Latest)
— Radhika Ramaswamy (@radhika1705) April 8, 2020
G South Ward (Lower Parel, Worli, W Koliwada)- 133
E Ward (Mum Central, Byculla) - 59 cases
D Ward (Peddar Rd, Walkeshwar, Grant Rd, Tardeo) - 47 cases
K West Ward (VParle, Andheri, Juhu) - 43 cases
H East Ward (Sntcrz East, Bandra East)- 33 cases pic.twitter.com/gRjMo1EXan
The civic body suggested citizens may wear standard masks available with the chemis or ‘even home made washable masks’ which ‘can be reused after proper washing and disinfecting them’.
Persons flouting the new rule have been warned of arrest by ‘police officers or officers appointed by the Assistant Commissioners of wards.’
“All these officers are hereby authorised to take any actions to penalise such violators stringently. These instructions must be followed very scrupulously.” the order signed by Praveen Pardesh, the Municipal Commissioner, said.
The order said that some studies had observed ‘that wearing of facial masks can reduce the spread of coronavirus substantially from and to persons coming in contact to each other apart from compulsory social distancing measures.’
According to the Maharashtra government's bulletin on Tuesday evening, the state recorded a total of 1,018 cases of coronavirus, with 64 deaths. Mumbai recorded the most number of cases at 642, followed by Pune, which has recorded 130 cases. A total of 79 patients have been discharged till date following recovery. 34,695 people are in home quarantine and 4,008 people are in institutional quarantine.