Stepping out without a mask in Mumbai can be more difficult now as Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal has instructed to apprehend 20 thousand people daily. The civic body has warned that people violating the Centre’s COVID-19 safety protocols will be booked and penalised. The commissioner has given a month's target and has said that he'll monitor it himself. Currently, 950 people are caught daily without masks in Mumbai (Mumbai). “The BMC is initiating a mass drive of penalising approximately 20,000 citizens per day found without masks in public spaces...this drive will continue for a month at least, and it will be monitored personally by me every evening,” the BMC chief said. Earlier, there was a fine of Rs 1000 for being caught while walking without a mask, which has been reduced to Rs 200. More than 4900 people were caught in Mumbai from April 9 to September 12 and over 33. 5 lakh fine was charged from them. Similarly, between September 13 and October 10, more than 26.5 thousand people were caused and over Rs 53.5 lakh fine was charged from them. The BMC has so far caught more than 31.5 thousand people walking without a mask and has recovered more than Rs 87 lakh from them. The civic agency says that masks are a great weapon to protect people against COVID-19. To get people used to masks, campaigns are needed. Everyday 1,500 to 2,000 new cases of corona are reported from Mumbai. On Monday, Mumbai reported 1,620 new COVID-19 cases, taking its tally to 2,31,070, while the toll rose to 9,466 with 36 fresh deaths. The number of recoveries has increased to 1,95,773 with 1,968 more COVID-19 patients getting discharged from hospitals in the past 24 hours, BMC has said.

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