The Tripura government on Tuesday doubled the fine for not wearing face masks in offices, in transit, and in public places, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. It amended its May 4 order under the ‘Tripura Epidemic Disease COVID-19 Regulations 2020’ for this.
The original order made the wearing of face masks compulsory; the first violation was to be fined ₹100, and subsequent violations were to be fined ₹200 for subsequent offences. Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb had issued the rules to enable containment measures in the State. The amended order said that people were not complying with the order on wearing masks, and hiked the fines to ₹200 for the first violation and ₹400 for successive violations.
Mr. Deb has been repeatedly requesting people to cover their faces with a cotton towel or a scarf, if they did not have a mask of a medical standard.
A complete lockdown has been declared in Tripura on Sunday, July, in order to curb the spread of infections. As on Monday, Tripura had recorded 1,387 positive cases.
