Face masks mandatory in Lucknow, Noida & 4 other districts of Uttar Pradesh amid spurt in COVID-19 cases

LUCKNOW: APRIL. 18 – The Uttar Pradesh government has made wearing face masks mandatory at public places in six districts in view of an increase in COVID-19 cases. These six districts are Gautam Budh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Meerut, Bulandshahr, Baghpat and Lucknow.

Several states including Uttar Pradesh had earlier decided to stop penalising people for not wearing masks. The UP government had in its order last month said that wearing masks would not be mandatory in the state from April 1.

The government also decided not to extend the implementation of the Uttar Pradesh Public Health and Epidemic Diseases Control Act, 2020. The Act was implemented in the state since May 2020 and was being extended every three months.

State governments started announcing complete relaxation of the COVID-19 norms starting in view of the steady decline in the COVID-19 pandemic situation. The Centre, on its part, withdrew all restrictions on March 23 except for wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing norms.

In the last 24 hours, 65 new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in Gautam Buddh Nagar, 20 in Ghaziabad and 10 in Lucknow. In view of the rising cases, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered close monitoring of the situation in all 75 districts.

-India TV