The Uttar Pradesh government today announced that it will make the wearing of face masks mandatory in seven towns of the state which include the state capital Lucknow as well.
"In view of an increase in Covid cases, wearing face masks in public places is mandatory in Gautam Budh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Meerut, Bulandshahr, Baghpat and Lucknow," the Uttar Pradesh government said in a statement as reported by news agency ANI.
The increase in Covid cases has had an impact on the districts falling under the falling under the national capital region (NCR). Keeping this in mind, the government has made use of masks mandatory in public places in Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Meerut, Bulandshahr, Baghpat as well as capital Lucknow, an official spokesperson said here.
In the last 24 hours, 65 new Covid cases have been confirmed in Gautam Buddh Nagar, 20 in Ghaziabad and 10 in Lucknow, the official said, adding that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered “close monitoring" of the situation.
Earlier, seventy people, including 14 children, have tested positive for COVID-19 in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar which falls in the Delhi-NCR, pushing the number of active infections to over 200. The Covid cases are showing a rising trend in Delhi and its adjoining areas.
“Of the 70 new cases, 14 are children below 18 years of age who have tested positive for COVID-19," Chief Medical Officer Sunil Kumar Sharma said. The department has urged residents to inform officials about any suspected case or symptoms of the virus to any person on the dedicated helpline no- 1800492211 or through email cmogbnr@gmail.com" \ ncmogbnr@gmail.com for proper and timely treatment. Since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020, a total of 98,902 people in Gautam Buddh Nagar have tested positive for COVID-19 while 490 of them have died due to the infection, according to official data.
Reports of infections from schools have triggered concerns weeks after they opened for completely offline classes following a two-year gap due to the pandemic.
The fresh infections in private schools in the capital have been reported close on the heels of schools in adjoining Noida and Ghaziabad reporting new cases of the disease.
Coronavirus cases and the positivity rate in Delhi have seen an upward trend over the last few days.
*With inputs from ANI
