As Covid surges in China, 76% Indians in favour of making masks mandatory in indoor public places

NEW DELHI: Following the resurgence of Covid cases in China, 76% Indians now in favour of making masks mandatory in indoor public places like malls, cinema halls and places of worship, revealed a survey by LocalCircles.
In addition, 76% wanted it to be mandatory in buses and bus stands, in trains and railway stations as these spaces are usually crowded.
Apart from these three categories, 59% of respondents want masks to be made mandatory again in educational institutions like schools and colleges while 35% want it also to be mandatory in all outdoor public places like parks and markets.
Data shows that 18% don’t want masks to be made mandatory in any place apart from airports and onboard flights and 12% are for not enforcing masks anywhere.
on December 24, India announced that RT-PCR tests will be mandatory for international passengers coming from China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand.
Despite the World Health Organisation (WHO) seeking “more detailed information on disease severity, hospital admissions and requirement for ICU support”, China has been sharing very little information including on genome sequencing.
London based analytics company Airfinity has estimated that China may already be recording over a million new infections and at least 5,000 deaths every day.
Potential threat of a resurgence of the COVID virus in the country as new BF.7 mutations and other Omicron sub-variants spread across China has got a sizable number of Indians worried. The images and videos from China show a dire situation at hospitals and crematoriums and forecasts by public health experts are extremely gloomy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed state governments to step up testing, ensure operational readiness of hospital infrastructure including supply of oxygen cylinders etc.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has also held high-level meetings with officials followed by another round with state ministers to review the COVID-19 situation in India - preparedness of the public health system for its surveillance, containment and management.
Underlying and reiterating that Covid is not over yet, the health minister has urged people to follow Covid appropriate behaviour and get vaccinated against COVID.
However, masking in flights and at airports continues to be optional and only 7% fliers said wearing a mask in flights and airports was effective and 57% said in light of the new threat, it should be mandated.
On a daily basis, as India does random testing at international airports, it is finding travelers who are COVID positive. On December 26, 12 travelers coming from high-risk countries to Bangalore were found to be COVID positive and on December 27, 13 arriving at the New Delhi international airport were reported to be COVID positive.
With memories of Feb-March 2021 and later in Dec 2021, where people thought that Covid was done and dusted, it again made a comeback, a lethal one via the Delta variant in April 2021 and a highly infectious one in January.
"With support of people at high levels and limited or no visibility into the causes of surge in China and worldwide travel into India being fully open, the Government should move swiftly and act including on the recommendation of mandatory masking at airports and flights. Once the global COVID threat reduces in a few months, the country can always go back and relax its COVID norms," said Sachin Taparia, founder of LocalCircles.