After Maharashtra, Delhi, Rajasthan govt makes face masks compulsory in urban areas

Rajasthan government on Thursday made wearing of face masks mandatory for the people in urban areas to prevent the spread of Coronavirus. Earlier, the state governments in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha made it compulsory to wear face masks.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot ordered officials to implement the effective Bhilwara model of dealing with COVID-19 in other districts of the state as well including Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Churu, Tonk, Jhunjhunu and Banswada. He also ordered officials to keep a check on the coronavirus situation through cameras in hotspot areas.

Additional Chief Secretary Health Rohit Kumar Singh said that the state has placed the order for 10 lakh rapid testing kits. There are 383 coronavirus cases in Rajasthan including 21 recoveries and 3 deaths, the Health Ministry said.

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What is the 'Bhilwara model'?

Bhilwara - a Rajasthan district about 250 km away from Jaipur has seen no cases for the past week after implementing the new strategy to deal with the spread of COVID-19. Explaining the 'ruthless containment' adopted by district officials, Harinder Kumar - the SP Bhilwara has said that the police adopted Nakabandi at the district border, city areas - effectively sealing the district from the state after 26 cases were detected by March-end. 

He added that one of the hospitals where 17 health officials were detected positive for COVID-19, was sealed and the staff was put under isolation. Taking extreme steps, he said that the state government which had deployed 3000 health workers to the district underwent rigorous testing of almost 2816 people for COVID-19, with only 27 testing positive.

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Next - effective supply of food items at houses. Kumar said with the effective coordination between various government departments, 100% lockdown has been ensured along with sanitisation of the police personnel and other officials on duty.

He said, "Beat constables have been making a list of supplies needed for people. No person has been allowed to stay hungry," adding, "When the numbers of positive cases were on highest, Curfew was imposed and other measures also are taken." Reports state that  government delivered supplies and even cooked food for people as all shops were closed.

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(With inputs from ANI)