Punishment for not wearing mask: Gujarat HC orders compulsory community service at Covid-19 care centres

Gujarat High Court has ordered that any person who is found without a mask will have to do compulsory community service at COVID-19 care centres. This has been mandated by the Gujarat High Court and Gujarat government is also directed to issue a notice on the same, news agency ANI tweeted. The order comes as the number of Coronavirus cases rise in the state. According to the Gujarat Health Department, 1477 new cases have been recorded in the last 24 hours.

Prior to this, the state government had imposed a night curfew in Ahmedabad city in order to curb the rising cases of COVID-19. The curfew was implemented in the city on November 20 between 9 pm and 6 am and is expected to remain in operation till the government gives further orders. The government said it was waiting for the situation to improve and once it’s done, the night curfew will be lifted. Meanwhile, hospital beds in the city have been filling up fast, especially in private hospitals. Additional Chief Secretary Rajiv Kumar Gupta, also appointed as the Officer on Special Duty by the Gujarat Government to manage Ahmedabad’s Municipal Corporation’s operations related to COVID-19 infection, said that only 400 beds now remain vacant in Ahmedabad and there has been a spike in Coronavirus cases. In government hospitals, 2,600 beds are vacant.

Additionally, the state government also notified last month that it was reversing its order on reopening of schools and colleges. It is to note that schools and colleges in Gujarat were scheduled to reopen from November 23. Now, they will remain closed till further order given by the government. Not only Gujarat, many states have revoked their order of reopening schools and colleges as Coronavirus cases surge.

Gujarat has so far reported 210,000 positive cases among which, around 1.9 lakh people have recovered. The state also witnessed COVID-19 related deaths of 3,989 people.