Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope clarified on Saturday that masks are not mandatory but the public is requested to use masks when in closed spaces.
The confusion regarding whether or not it was made compulsory came from the three-page letter sent to local civic bodies.
“Districts like Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Pune and Raigad have seen a small surge in numbers. In this regard, the Union health ministry had sent a letter asking for action to be taken. The letter had the word ‘must’ which seems to have created confusion,” he said.
Contents
The Rule
The appeal to wear masks comes amidst a rising number of Covid cases, a concern the state government expressed to the district authorities.
Mask in closed public spaces like trains, buses, cinemas, auditoriums, offices, hospitals, colleges, schools is strongly advised.
Resurgence In Cases
Vyas wrote that after a sustained decline in the number of cases in the past couple of months, cases have once again started slowly but steadily increasing.
Daily cases have crossed 1,000 for the first time after 3 months on 1 June.
Presently, Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Thane are experiencing the surge but with the positivity rate increasing in other districts the same will happen there too.
On Friday 1,134 new Covid-19 cases and three deaths were reported. Out of the new cases, 763 were from Mumbai.
Don’t Let Down Guard
Steps such as mask wearing is meant to contain the contagion and keep hospital admissions to minimum.
Vyas has warned the public against getting complacent and thinking that the pandemic is over.
Maharashtra has recently found patients with BA.4 and BA.5 sub variants.
There have been no complications associated with these cases but vigilance is advised.
How To Devise An Action Plan
ln order to understand various patterns and possible variations:
- Periodic analysis of new positive cases have to be carried out with respect to time, place and person (age, sex, etc.) so a localised action plan can be carved out.
- Geographical distribution of cases is important to find out clusters, if any.
- Keep track of the overall clinical spectrum of cases
- Analyse the proportion of breakthrough infection and reinfection cases periodically
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