A day after State Additional chief Secretary (Health) Dr Pradeep Vyas announced that “mask is a must in closed public spaces”, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said on Saturday that the state government had not decided to make masks mandatory in the state but appealed to the people to use masks when in closed spaces. The minister’s clarification about the use of mask came on a day when Maharashtra recorded 1,357 fresh daily Covid-10 cases, the highest-ever daily positive pandemic cases since February this year. The state had recorded 1081, 1045 and 1134 daily positive cases on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday respectively.
Talking to media persons in Pune, Tope said said that the use of the word “must” in a three-page letter sent to local civic bodies had caused the confusion.
“Districts like Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Pune and Raigad have seen a small surge in numbers. In this regard, the health ministry had sent a letter asking for action to be taken. The letter had the word ‘must’ which seems to have created confusion,” Tope said.
Having taken serious cognisance of the sudden spurt in the Covid-19 cases in the state, State Health Secretary Vyas had — in a letter sent to all the district authorities in the state – had said “Masks in closed public spaces like trains, buses, cinemas, auditoriums, offices, hospitals, colleges schools is a must”
Alluding to reports in sections of the media about the state government having made masks compulsory for the people, Tope said that this was not the case. “As of now, there is no compulsion but I appeal to the people to use masks in closed spaces. The state government is keeping a close watch on the situation and necessary action would be taken after 10 to 15 days,” the Health Minister said
“Most cases being reported are mild. We have asked the district authorities to ramp up vaccination and increase testing,” Tope said.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra on Friday recorded more than 1,000 daily Covid-19 cases for the fourth consecutive day since February this year.
On Saturday, the state logged 1,357 fresh Covid-19 cases, taking the total number of Covid-19 cases from 78,90,346 to 78,91,703.
With one fresh Covid-19 triggered death reported during the day, the total number of deaths registered in the state since the outbreak of Covid-19 in the state in March 2020 rose from 1,47,864 to 1,47,865.