Coronavirus crisis | Not wearing face mask in Tamil Nadu's Salem will lead to arrest

The Salem District Collector on Saturday issued an order stating people who violate the rule of not wearing a face mask will be arrested under the Epidemic Diseases Act. People who are caught in Salem for not wearing a mask the first time will be fined Rs. 100 and Rs. 500 on the second occasion. However, those who violate the norms and do not wear a mask the third time will be facing arrest, the district collector stated.

Wearing a mask has been made a mandatory rule by the Indian government to be followed as a preventive measure to avoid getting affected by the novel coronavirus, which has so far claimed over 150 lives across Tamil Nadu while leaving more than 20,000 to test positive for the infectious disease. The Centre along with state governments, medical officials and health workers have been urging and making appeals to the people to wear a mask when they step out of their homes to attend to their essential needs. With the world still in the middle of the COVID-19 outbreak as per the World Health Organization (WHO), the public have been stressed to wear a mask so that they don't get affected and those infected will not be a cause for the spread of the infection.