The Maharashtra government on Wednesday said it will be forming a committee to fix the rates of masks and sanitisers, which are in high demand owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The government will be appealing to the Centre to include these two items in the list of essential commodities, State Health Minister Rajesh Tope said after a meeting of the Food and Drug Administration Department.

Mr. Tope said the panel is being formed to control the prices of the two items and the Law and Judiciary Department has been asked to immediately provide its inputs on capping the rates. “Common citizens of Maharashtra should be able to buy these items at reasonable rates,” he said.

Mr. Tope said in the absence of a vaccine, prevention is the best medicine against COVID-19. “All advertisements from government bodies and private agencies have been appealing to citizens to use masks and sanitisers to protect themselves against the virus,” he said.

The government had capped the rates of COVID-19 treatment in private hospitals after complaints of overcharging. “We have also controlled the prices of COVID-19 tests and ambulances transporting infected patients,” Mr. Tope said.

Maharashtra HSC results to be declared today

State Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad on Wednesday announced that the results of the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education’s Class XII examinations will be declared at 1 p.m. on Thursday. The exams were held in February and March this year, before the novel coronavirus-induced lockdown was imposed in the State.

“The results will be declared at 1 pm tomorrow. I extend my best wishes to the students and their parents,” Ms. Gaikwad tweeted on Wednesday.