By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, April 10, 2021: The Odisha police on April 10, 2021 said it had acted against 12,145 violators of mask usage and social distancing rules and collected fines to the tune of Rs 38.98 lakh in the last 24 hours.

This came a day after Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik warned of strict action against COVID-19 guidelines violations.

“Cumulatively, in three days, action has been taken against 33,346 violators of COVID-19 protocols in the state and penal fines amounting to Rs 9,067,600 have been collected. We urge all to adhere to COVID guidelines,” Odisha police tweeted.

In another tweet, the police said a total of 15 persons had been arrested and three cases registered while 749 vehicles had been seized.

The health and family welfare department had also made an amendment in the Odisha COVID-19 (Fourth) Regulation 2020 – now called Odisha COVID-19 (Fifth Amendment) Regulation 2020 – on April 9. This was done to make enforcement stricter in view of the ‘second wave’ of COVID-19 cases,

The amendment allows the police to impose a fine of Rs 2,000 each for two successive violations and Rs 5,000 for the successive violations. Earlier, the fine was Rs 1,000 for the first and second offence and Rs 5,000 for subsequent offences.

Chief Minister, in a video message on April 9, said the state government did not intend to impose shutdown and lockdown to control the second wave of COVID-19. This was because it wanted to protect the businesses and livelihoods of common people.

He urged people to start a 14-day ‘Mask Up’ campaign and sincerely follow all guidelines to check the spread of infections but at the same time warned of strict action against violators of COVID-19 guidelines. He said people must wear masks irrespective of whether they were vaccinated or not.

Two persons infected by the novel coronavirus reportedly died in Odisha during the last 24 hours while undergoing treatment in hospital. The health and family welfare department said one of the deceased was a 77-year-old man from Balangir district while the other was a 74-year-old woman from Kendrapara district.

Some 1,374 COVID-19 cases were reported in the last 24 hours in Odisha. The state has recorded 348,182 positive cases so far while there are 7,003 active positive cases. The death toll so far has been 1,926.