MP mantri shuns face mask in public, questions its purpose

Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Mishra on Wednesday triggered a row by saying that he shunned face mask. Mishra was seen attending various government programmes in Indore, which has emerged as a Coronavirus hotspot in the state, without face mask, taking everyone by surprise.

“I don’t use face mask (in public)”, he said while fielding a question by reporters in this regard. “I never wear face masks when I attend public programmes. Isi mein kya hota (what purpose does it serve)”, he quipped.

Incidentally, the Indore district administration has made it mandatory for people to wear face mask in public and imposed a fine of `100 on those who violated the rule.

Opposition Congress seized the opportunity to attack the BJP on the issue and said that the home minister of the state has scant regard for the rules framed by his own government (Indore district administration).

“Mishra has thrown the rules to the wind by saying that he shunned face mask in public. He should honour the rules framed by his own government”, Congress spokesman here Narendra Saluja said.

Mishra, incidentally, was the only leader in MP who dared to move in public without a mask when the pandemic started claiming lives of people in the middle of April this year.

Indore topped the chart of Coronavirus cases in the state by reporting

20,383 Covid-19 cases. Indore also recorded the highest number of 509 deaths due to the virus in the state.

The state has reported

1,10,711 Coronavirus positive cases and 2,035 deaths so far.

Kerala reported the biggest single-day spike of

5,378 cases on Wednesday even as 2,951 persons recovered from the infection in the last 24 hours. This is the first time that Kerala crossed the 5,000 mark on a single day in

Covid-19 cases.

With this the total number of cases reported in Kerala so far has gone up to 1,48,132 of which

1,04,682 have recovered and 42,786 persons are under treatment in various hospitals across the state. The state reported

20 deaths on Wednesday taking the toll to 592.

Of the new cases 4,426 contracted the infection through contact, the source of infection among

640 persons is yet to be known, 64 came from abroad, 140 from other states and 99 health workers also got infected.