Following a decline in Covid cases, Karnataka health minister K Sudhakar on Tuesday said a meeting will be held with chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and the technical advisory committee (TAC) on cancelling the mandatory order to wear masks.
“Already, four states in the country have relaxed the rule of compulsory wearing of face masks. Nearly 90% of people who wander around in public do not wear face masks. No one is even slapping fine on them. So, in a way, this is like undeclared cancellation of wearing face masks. I will discuss the matter with the chief minister,” he said.
Health commissioner D Randeep said that since the government has withdrawn the Covid-19 norms under the Disaster Management Act, the mask guideline now remains an advisory, and a penalty cannot be levied for violation.
Reacting to the development, epidemiologist Dr Giridhara R Babu tweeted, “Instead of consensus, (it is) ironic that the use of face masks has become a contentious issue.”
Covid-19 numbers have further dwindled in Karnataka. Bengaluru has recorded only one death in the one week as of Monday, the department of health and family welfare said on Tuesday. Out of the 30 districts, 14 have not reported a single Covid-19 case in the last week, the report from the department added.
On Tuesday, Karnataka reported 29 fresh coronavirus cases and zero fatalities. The total number of cases now stands at 3,945,727, while the total active cases in the state stood at 1,468, the health department.
As many as 61 patients got discharged on Tuesday and the number of recoveries was 3,904,162, according to a bulletin.
Of the new cases, 24 were from Bengaluru urban that recorded no deaths, said the bulletin. While the positivity rate for the day was 0.23%, the case fatality rate was 0.33%.
A survey by Local Circles, a social media platform, found that despite people knowing that wearing face masks is the second-best prevention after vaccination for Covid-19, they do not follow the mask rule. “67% of citizens say there is limited or no mask compliance in their area, district or city. Also, in Karnataka, 51% of them have said that people have a mask but don’t wear it properly,” the survey stated.
Last Thursday, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) decided to do away with a fine for not wearing face masks in public places amid a fall in Covid-19 cases.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government, too, revoked the Epidemic Diseases Act and Disaster Management Act that had been in force for the last two years.
