Karnataka makes masks mandatory in public places ahead of New Year celebrations

The Karnataka government on Monday made masks mandatory in public places such as schools, colleges, malls and movie theatres of the state with immediate effect.

Ahead of New Year celebrations, the state government also made masks mandatory at pubs, bars and restaurants as Covid-19 cases saw a surge in China and a few other countries.

After a key meeting with the experts and government officials, Karnataka health minister K Sudhakar said, “Masks have been made mandatory inside movie theatres, schools and colleges. Masks will be mandatory to celebrate the New Year in pubs, restaurants and bars.”

The minister also said the celebrations on New Year night must end by 1am. “New Year celebrations in the state should end before 1am. Absolutely no need to panic and just need to take precautions,” added the minister.

The Karnataka government has already made face masks mandatory in closed spaces and air-conditioned rooms on Thursday. The government will also conduct a mock drill for an emergency response to deal with Covid-19 in all state-run hospitals.

The minister also announced that a total of 12 international passengers tested positive for Covid-19 in December at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport. The samples of all positive cases were sent for genome sequencing to track and identify the variants.