Covid-19: Chennai brings mask mandate back; Rs 500 fine for violators

Chennai, July 5: Amid a gradual rise in the number of fresh COVID-19 cases, Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has made wearing mask mandatory in public places. The rule will come to effect from Wednesday.

Non-compliance with the rule is punishable with a fine of ₹500, the GCC said. It has to be noted that several states including Kerala and Karnataka have made wearing mask mandatorily in public.

Tamil Nadu has reported a rise in the number of fresh coronavirus cases. It saw 2,654 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday out of which Chennai recorded 1,066 new cases.

The active case in the state stands at 15,616 while the capital city has 6,534 active cases.

Meanwhile, India added 13,086 new coronavirus infections, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 4,35,31,650, while the active cases increased to 1,14,475, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

The death toll climbed to 5,25,242 with 19 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

The active cases comprise 0.26 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.53 per cent, the ministry said.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.90 per cent while the weekly positivity rate stood at 3.81 per cent.

In a major achievement, India achieved complete vaccination of 90 per cent of its adult population, Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday announced.

He tweeted, "What an extraordinary feat! With PM @NarendraModi Ji's mantra of Sabka Saath, Sabka Prayas, India achieves complete vaccination of 90% of its adult population. Way to go! We will win the battle against the pandemic together! [sic]"