Tougher Punishment If One Doesn’t Wear Masks

The government has planned to go for tougher punishment like raising the pecuniary fine by mobile courts to force people to wear masks to stop the resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic.

''We've asked divisional commissioners to monitor it (mask use) for another week. If the existing fine doesn’t work, motivate people in a greater way and then go for tougher punishment. The fine may be raised,'' said Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam.

He was briefing journalists after the weekly Cabinet meeting, held at the Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

The PM joined the meeting virtually from her residence Ganobhaban.

At the meeting, the Prime Minister asked the authorities concerned to carry out a greater campaign and force people to wear masks, said the Cabinet Secretary.

The divisional commissioners informed that several thousand people were fined throughout the country on Sunday. The mobile courts were conducted in 35 places of the capital alone on the day, he said.

If the existing punishment does not work, then the mobile courts may fine even Tk 5,000 instead of the existing amount of Tk 500 or Tk 1,000, he said adding that the number of Covid-19 patients is on the rise again in hospitals across the country.