COVID-19: Rs 2,000 fine for not wearing mask in Delhi, says Kejriwal

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal Thursday announced that the fine for not wearing a face mask has been increased to Rs 2,000 from what was Rs 500 earlier. The announcement comes at a time when the national capital is witnessing a high surge in novel coronavirus cases in the last past week.

“Met Hon’ble LG. Briefed him about the corona situation in Delhi. We agreed that to create effective deterrent so that people don’t omit wearing masks, we need to increase fine from the present Rs 500 to Rs 2000,” he said while addressing a press conference.

Arvind Kejriwal:

Kejriwal also appealed to all political parties, social organisations to distribute masks at public places in Delhi.

Earlier in the day, the Delhi High Court pulled up the government over its lack of preparedness to tackle the Covid-19 in the national capital. “We certainly cannot be silent bystanders to a situation that is deteriorating…We are not here to shake you out of your slumber,’ the bench said.

The HC noted that the quantum of fine for not wearing masks, not maintaining social distancing did not appear to be a deterrent. “Those who are not stepping out of their homes are getting infected because of carelessness of others,” the high court said.

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“We are not saying you alone are responsible, the citizens are also responsible and are supposed to take precautions. If they don’t, you are supposed to enforce it in such a way that they don’t carry infection to others,” it added.

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Delhi’s coronavirus tally on Wednesday climbed to over 500,000 after 7,486 fresh cases. And 131 new fatalities were recorded in the last 24 hours, pushing the death toll to 7,943. This is the highest number of deaths reported in the city so far.

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