Amid surge in COVID cases, Maharashtra govt likely to make face masks mandatory

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 1 (ANI): The Maharashtra government might make it mandatory for people to wear face masks if COVID cases continue to see a rise, the state Health Minister Rajesh Tope said on Sunday.
"If Covid-19 cases continue to rise, then we will have to make the wearing of masks compulsory," he said.
Stating that their aim is to speed up the vaccination programme, he assured that all the possible steps will be taken to ensure vaccination, especially among children in the state.
"As of now, we have asked people to wear it voluntarily but if it (Covid cases) increases then will have to think about it," he added.
Tope assured that they are continuously monitoring the Covid situation in the state and this time, they are more inclined towards vaccinating the children.
"We are monitoring the situation in the state- our focus is to boost vaccination for kids in the state. The vaccination programme will start soon; it will be difficult for us but we will make every possible effort to complete the task," he added.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, so far, India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 189.17 crores (1,89,17,69,346); of which, more than 2.90 Cr (2,90,98,946) adolescents have been administered the first dose of the vaccine against COVID-19.
As per the ministry, India's active caseload currently stands at 19,092 with the active cases constituting 0.04 per cent of the country's total positive cases.
Currently, India's Covid recovery rate stands at 98.74 per cent as 2,876 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours and the cumulative tally of recovered patients (since the beginning of the pandemic) is now at 4,25,36,253.
With 3,324 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, the country has observed a total of 4,71,087 COVID-19 tests being conducted. So far, the country has conducted over 83.79 crores (83,79,13,110) cumulative tests. (ANI)