The Madurai district administration on Thursday issued a statement saying around 502 people were fined for not wearing masks on May 20 while stepping outside of their homes. The district administration has said that penalties of Rs. 59,800 was collected from those who had not adhered to wearing a mask despite the Indian government's repeated requests and instructions. Government of India and subsequently many state governments and district administrations had made it a mandatory practice for the public to wear masks once they step out of their homes to ward off the novel coronavirus and not be affected by it.
Wearing masks has been made a compulsory rule to be followed by the public in order to stop the spread of the coronavirus ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed a nationwide lockdown, which began on March 25 and is currently in its fourth phase set to come to an end on May 31. With considerable relaxations being permitted in Lockdown 4 now, there have been no compromises made by either the Centre or state governments in regard to wearing masks.