The number of people that are testing positive in India is increasing every day in India. The total number of infected cases stands at 147, as per the health ministry of which 130 are active cases. In Maharashtra alone, this number has increased to 42 with one casualty. This has lead to a widespread panic with people rushing to buy masks and sanitisers.
This has resulted in an acute shortage of masks in the city. The price of the N95 masks in the city had skyrocketed and there were also incidents of people selling used mask also reported.
To counter this shortage, the home minister of the state Anil Deshmukh has decided to engage prisoners in various jails. These prisoners have been entrusted with the task of making masks that can be later sold to public at a fair price. The picture of inmates engaged in making these masks has been shared on various social media.
This idea had first come to Kerala Chief Minister Pinararyi Vijayan. He had tweeted on Saturday that his government had come up with a solution to address the mask shortage. The CPI(M) government in Kerala has deployed convicted prisoners in state prisons to manufacture masks, thus maintaining a steady supply. Tweeting pictures of the first batch of face masks manufactured by the prisoners at Thiruvananthapuram Jail, the CM said, "In light of the shortage, directions were given to engage the prisons in the state in manufacturing masks. He added the manufacturing of the masks has started on a "war footing basis".
Maharashtra as of now has the maximum number of COVID-19 positive cases. In light of this, the state has asked all educational institutes, gyms, shopping malls etc to be shut. There were rumours that local trains and metro may also be shut. However, clearing the air on the matter Uddhav Thackeray mentioned that no such move is planned as of now.
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