Bengaluru’s Garuda Mall has been slapped with a fine of Rs 20,000 for not enforcing COVID appropriate behaviour on its premises. In an inspection conducted by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), authorities said that visitors were also not being checked to see if they had both doses of the vaccine. Physical distancing guidelines had not been followed and people were not wearing masks, a notice issued by authorities said.

BBMP Chief Health Officer Dr. Balasundar A S told the New Indian Express that the civic body had shown malls how to check for vaccine status just a few weeks ago, and that it barely takes a minute per person. “This was the first incident, so we have fined them a small amount as a warning to other malls if the orders are not followed. We plan on issuing much heavier fines in the future if malls are found not checking vaccination certificates, and ensuring if proper protocols are followed,” he told the newspaper.

Earlier this month, Karnataka made it mandatory for all those entering areas such as malls and theatres to be fully vaccinated. These measures were put in place after cases of the Omicron variant were detected.

Karnataka reported 348 new cases of COVID-19 and three deaths on Sunday, December 26, taking the total number of infections to 30,04,587 and the toll fatalities to 38,312. The day saw 198 patients getting discharged, taking the total number of recoveries so far to 29,58,828. Out of 348 new cases, 248 were from Bengaluru Urban, 88 got discharged and two deaths were reported. The total number of active cases was 7,418.

While the positivity rate for the day stood at 0.47%, the case fatality rate was 0.86%. Out of the three deaths, two were from Bengaluru Urban, one from Chamarajanagara.

Bengaluru Urban district tops the list of positive cases with a total of 12,61,556, Mysuru 1,80,224 and Tumakuru 1,21,302. Among those discharged, Bengaluru Urban again topped with 12,39,122 followed by Mysuru 1,77,681and Tumakuru 1,20,074. Cumulatively, 5,59,98,380 samples have been tested in the state till date.

With PTI inputs