Wearing masks in private car not mandatory in Delhi from Monday

From now, people in Delhi will not be penalised for not wearing masks while travelling together in their private car.

The order, issued by the Department of Health and Family Welfare, will take effect on February 28.

Earlier, fines were being imposed for not wearing masks while travelling in the wake COVID-19 pandemic. Only those driving alone were exempted from the rule.

The directive was issued following the Delhi High Court order which termed the rule “absurd” and asked why it was still in force.

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has also issued an order reducing the fine for not wearing masks or maintaining social distancing from Rs 2,000 (US $26 approx.) to Rs 500 (US $6 approx.).

The order was issued on Saturday based on the decisions taken at the DDMA meeting held on Friday.

The Home Ministry had asked states and Union Territories to consider relaxing Covid curbs for social, sports, entertainment, academic and religious events as well as night curfew hours.

Meanwhile, the Covid cases in the national capital continued its decline with only 440 fresh COVID-19 cases being reported on Friday.

Two deaths have been reported, while the positivity rate stood at 0.83 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department.

With this, the national capital's case count increased to 18,59,054 and the death toll climbed to 26,119, the latest health bulletin stated.

Amid the decline in daily cases of COVID-19 in Delhi, the number of patients under home isolation here has also significantly fallen in the last two weeks.