Mumbai: Man dressed as Santa carries out sanitisation, distributes masks

Mumbai, Dec 18: Ahead of the Christmas Ashok Kurmi, president of Sion Friend Circle foundation, dressed as Santa Claus carried out sanitisers and distributed masks to people in Mumbai's Rani Lakshmi Chowk area.

"Every year I used to distribute chocolates...to children but this year I decided to contribute my bit to fight against COVID-19," he said. "I decided to sanitise bus stands, autos, and other places," Kurmi further said.

Ashok Kurmi is spreading awareness and doing his bit for Christmas, Speaking to ANI Kurmi said, "I used to celebrate the day every year by distributing toys, chocolates, and gifts to unprivileged kids but this year due to the massive spread of covid-19 I decided to sanitise bus stands, autos and other places."

He distributed masks and sanitisers to kids and the needy. He said, by doing this he feels good and satisfied as it is a good step to make people aware at least wearing masks amid the pandemic to protect themselves.

On Wednesday, Maharashtra's COVID-19 tally rose to 18.80 lakh with the addition of 4,304 fresh cases. The state also reported 95 more deaths, taking the fatality count to 48,434. A total of 4,678 patients were discharged from hospitals, taking the tally of recovered people to 17.70 lakh.

Mumbai city reported 795 positive cases during the day, which pushed its overall count to 2,84,404, while its death toll rose to 11,003 as 12 more patients succumbed to the infection.