Mumbai Mayor distributes masks to spread awareness as COVID-19 cases surge

Amid the spike in COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra, Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar distributed masks in the Dadar vegetable market on Tuesday to raise awareness among people.

"We are aware that people have to come out of their homes for their basic needs including buying vegetables, that is we came here to distribute masks and urged them to use them, stise hands and maintain social distancing," Pednekar said while speaking to reporters.

The Mumbai Mayor also said that the awareness programme was conducted with the help of the Police.

This comes following the spike in COVID-19 cases reported in Maharashtra during the last few days.

Maharashtra on February 21 recorded 6,971 new COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day count in nearly four months.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Sunday had collected a total fine of Rs 28 lakhs from 14,000 people who were caught without face masks in public spaces. As per a statement, the total fine collected was Rs 32,41,14,800 and the total number of persons fined for mask violations was 16,02,536 as of Sunday.

Owing to the spike in COVID-19 cases in the state, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday informed that the coming eight days will decide whether there will be a lockdown in the state.

( With inputs from ANI )