Coronavirus pandemic | BMC makes wearing face masks compulsory in Mumbai

Those found violating this rule will be punishable under Section 188 of Indian Penal Code (IPC)

Moneycontrol News

April 08, 2020 / 17:29 IST

Amid increase in the number of novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, cases in the city, Mumbai's civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), has made wearing of masks compulsory in public places, hospitals, offices, markets and while travelling in vehicles.

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"All person will be moving for whatsoever purpose and under whatever reason authority in public place, like street, hospital, office, markets must be wearing 3 ply mask or cloth mask compulsorily," an order issued by the Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Praveen Pardeshi stated.

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"These masks may be standard mask available with the chemist or even homemade washable masks and can be reused after proper washing and disinfecting them," the order said.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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