From April 1, masks mandatory for patients and staff at all T.N. government hospitals

Health Minister Ma. Subramanian on Friday, told reporters at the inauguration of the State Health Assembly that all patients: outpatients and in-patients, visitors, doctors, nurses and other health-related staff in over 11,300 government health facilities will have to mandatorily should wear masks. mandatorily. This includes health sub-centres, primary health centres (PHCs), urban PHCs, taluk and non-taluk hospitals, district headquarters hospitals and government medical college hospitals.

In the wake of a steady rise in coronavirus infections, the Health department has made wearing of masks compulsory in all government hospitals in Tamil Nadu starting from Saturday, April 1.

Health Minister Ma. Subramanian on Friday, told reporters at the inauguration of the State Health Assembly that all patients: outpatients and in-patients, visitors, doctors, nurses and other health-related staff in over 11,300 government health facilities will have to mandatorily wear masks. This includes health sub-centres, primary health centres (PHCs), urban PHCs, taluk and non-taluk hospitals, district headquarters hospitals and government medical college hospitals.

To stem the continuous rise in infections, an instruction has been issued to all State and district-level health officers attending the State Health Assembly to ensure 100% mask compliance in all government health facilities from Saturday, even as COVID-19 norms continue to be in force in the State, he noted. The Minister added that infections usually start increasing at hospitals first, and hence, this measure is being brought in place for hospitals.

COVID-19 cases are rising continuously, with Omicron sub-variants XBB and BA.2 being the dominant strains in circulation, he pointed out. “The cases are rising not only in Tamil Nadu but also across the country and the world,” he said.

On Thursday, Tamil Nadu reported 123 new cases of COVID-19. Over the past 24 hours, India has reported 3,095 fresh cases, he said, adding that the cases were increasing in Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat, Delhi and Karnataka, with the number of cases varying from 300 to 700.