Chhattisgarh minister spotted flouting Covid protocols

Chhattisgarh minister Amarjeet Bhagat, who was seen without wearing face masks during a public event, said no one should persuade him to follow Covid protocols.

Raipur: Chhattisgarh minister Amarjeet Bhagat, who has been widely criticised for callousness in following the COVID-19 norms, said no one should persuade him to follow Covid protocols.

"If I got infected from coronavirus..it would be my problem," said Bhagat. Since the lockdown, the minister was spotted multiple times without wearing face masks.

The minister later clarified that he regularly uses face masks while speaking in front of the public or addressing any event.

"I used to wear facemasks whenever I meet people or addresses any public event. Usually, I remove the masks whenever I used to live alone," said the minister who was travelling with five other people in the same vehicle, while speaking to reporters.

Contradictory to his statement, the minister was spotted flouting covid norms several times in past in public events.

Last year, he had violated social distancing norms amid the coronavirus pandemic by organising programmes on his birthday, which was widely criticised by the members of his own party.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh continue to report a surge in fresh COVID-19 cases and they account for 80.63 per cent of the daily new cases, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday. Karnataka, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh together account 80.63 per cent of the daily new cases," according to a statement. As many as 39,726 new daily cases were reported in the last 24 hours.