Odisha doubles penalty for not wearing mask to Rs 2000

Bhubaneswar, April 8: Odisha government today doubleed the penalty for not wearing mask to Rs 2000 for first and second offences. As per a notification of the Health department, one has to shell out Rs 5000 as fine for subsequent violation. The decision to double the fine was taken after surge in Covid-19 cases in Odisha. The daily Covid count in the state crossed 1000-mark on Friday as it reported 1282 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. With this, the active cases of the state stand at 5941 and as many as 228 people have recovered during this period. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday has also announced 14-days ‘Mask Abhiyan’ starting from today to check spread of Covid-19.