With the apprehension of a third wave looming large, seniors officials have instructed their subordinates to strictly impose Covid-19 appropriate behaviour among people.
Tamil Nadu police have booked 1.8 million people and collected a fine of ₹200 from each of them in 101 days, reported Tamil newspaper Hindu Tamil. Between April 8 and July 17, as many as 18,07,651 people were caught by the police for not wearing masks in public places and booked under the epidemic diseases act.
In addition to that, the police also lodg another 88,836 cases for violating social distancing norms. Most of these cases were slapped on shopkeepers and people assembling in public places and not keeping the physical distance of one metre.
With experts warning of a third wave of the pandemic in the country soon, they have received strict instructions from higher authorities in the department to strictly impose Covid-19 norms and penalise the violators, police officials said.
Tamil Nadu reported 1,971 new Covid-19 cases and 2,885 discharges on Monday. The active cases in the state are 27,282 and 28 Covid-19 deaths were reported on Monday. Tamil Nadu started witnessing its caseload rising in the last week of March when the second wave struck the country. The caseload peaked in May with 20,000 plus cases per day, and the state government announced a total lockdown from May 24. The lockdown is reviewed and extended with more relaxation.
The state invoked the epidemics diseases act during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic and mandated Covid-19 appropriate behaviour, including wearing masks and social distancing. The violators were caught and penalised under the act.
Once the cases started increasing in March this year, police tightened their grip on violators of Covid-19 appropriate behaviour. According to police officials, the norms were tightened on April 8 and they started booking people for not wearing the masks.
