More than 1.8 million people fined in 100 days for not wearing masks in Tamil Nadu

Chennai, July 20: In a recent development, Tamil Nadu police have booked as many as 1.8 million people and collected a fine of Rs 200 from each of them in 101 days. Between April 8 and July 17, more than 18,00,000 people were caught by the police for not wearing masks in public places and booked under the epidemic diseases act.

In addition to that, the police also lodged another 88,836 cases for violating social distancing norms. Most of these cases were slapped on shopkeepers and people assembling in public places and not keeping the physical distance of one metre.

It can be seen that experts are warning of the third wave of pandemic in the country soon. They have received strict instructions from higher authorities in the department to strictly impose COVID-19 norms and penalise the violators, police officials said.

On Monday, Tamil Nadu reported as many as 1,971 new COVID-19 cases and 2,885 discharges. The active cases in the state are 27,282 and 28 COVID-19 deaths were reported on Monday. Tamil Nadu started witnessing its caseload rising in the last week of March when the second wave struck the country.

The caseload peaked in May with 20,000 plus cases per day, and the state government announced a total lockdown from May 24. The lockdown is reviewed and extended with more relaxation.

Earlier, the state invoked the epidemics diseases act during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic and mandated COVID-19 appropriate behaviour, including wearing masks and social distancing.