The Uttar Pradesh government has made wearing face masks mandatory at public places in six districts in view of an increase in Covid-19 cases. These six districts are Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Meerut, Bulandshahr, Baghpat and Lucknow.
Several states including Uttar Pradesh had earlier decided to stop penalising people for not wearing masks. The UP government had in its order last month said that wearing masks would not be mandatory in the state from April 1. The government also decided not to extend the implementation of the Uttar Pradesh Public Health and Epidemic Diseases Control Act, 2020. The Act was implemented in the state since May 2020 and was being extended every three months.
State governments started announcing complete relaxation of the Covid-19 norms starting in view of the steady decline in the Covid-19 pandemic situation. The Centre, on its part, withdrew all restrictions on March 23 except for wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing norms.
