While the whole point of bringing masks with you is to wear it properly and protect yourself from the coronavirus, authorities in Bali are still catching people by the hundreds for not observing the province’s mandatory mask rule.
Badung authorities said they’ve dealt with hundreds of face mask violators in the past two weeks, the majority of whom had masks on them but didn’t bother to use them properly, or even at all.
“In general, the public is complying with the mandatory mask rule as part of the health protocol … but every day there’s always some people without masks, those who have them handy but did not use it, or are using masks improperly,” I Gusti Agung Ketut Suryanegara, who heads the Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) in Badung, said today.
Suryanegara added that officers from Satpol PP Badung conduct inspections two times a day. Up to Sept. 17, they have caught and issued warnings to 316 people, while another 28 were fined for not having masks on them at all.
Individuals without masks outside of their homes are subject to an IDR100,000 (US$6.77) fine in Bali, according to a Gubernatorial Regulation (Pergub) issued in August, enforcement of which began earlier this month.
In Badung, authorities have focused their inspections on “red zones,” or high-risk areas.
Suryanegara said 35 foreigners have so far been caught violating the mask rule, though only four were fined for not having masks on them at all. Most foreigners were reportedly caught in tourist destinations, such as the beach in Pererenan.
He previously highlighted that the mandatory mask rule applies to everyone, including foreigners, responding to a growing assumption then that authorities were only sanctioning local residents.
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