The East Singhbhum district police launched an awareness drive on Saturday to generate awareness against the coronavirus crisis in the steel city and adjoining areas.

'The drive is aimed at creating awareness following an instruction by director general of police, Jharkhand, MV Rao. We are going polite while making people aware about the need of wearing masks and maintaining social distance as well as sanitizing one's hands whenever required. We are also distributing pamphlets among people for making the drive effective. But at the same time we are letting the people know that if anyone is found without mask from Sunday, he or she will be prosecuted under Section 188 of the IPC and will have to face trial in court,' said superintendent of police (city) Subhash Chandra Jat while talking to The Telegraph Online.

Jat informed that mask-checking will be carried out along with helmet checking at various points in the city from Sunday morning.

A person is charged with Section 188 of the IPC for disobedience of order duly promulgated by the administration and attracts a punishment of one month to maximum six months, or penalty of Rs 200 to a maximum of Rs 1,000 or both.

Presently, the number of Covid-19 cases has reached to 226 in Jamshedpur, where the first two cases appeared exactly a month ago (on May 12).

As streets and marketplaces are bustling with activity during Unlock-1, with a considerable number of people not wearing masks and ignoring social distancing, the administration apprehends a spike in Covid-91 cases if stringent measures are not taken soon in this city with a population of over 15 lakhs.

Functionaries of Amar Market, which is a cluster of about 70 shops in an enclosure in Bistupur, have introduced a system under which any person willing to enter the market has to jot down one's name and cell phone number by putting a mask on the face.

'We have started the system so as to instill a sense of responsibility among the visitors in our marketplace. By putting their names and cellphone on a register at the entrance with the mask on face, a visitor will automatically follow the two other necessities -- maintaining social distancing and sanitizing one's hand,' said one of the shop-keeper Liaqat Ali.

Meanwhile, East Singhbhum district civil surgeon, Maheswar Prasad informed that the district has so far detected 226 Covid-19 patients of which 94 have already recovered by undergoing treatment mainly at Tata Main Hospital, the other two hospitals being Tata Motors Hospital in Telco and MGM Medical College Hospital at Sakchi.

'The step that the police have taken on Saturday is a very positive one. If it is followed strictly, then we all will be able to eliminate this deadly virus from the district soon,' said Prasad while talking to The Telegraph Online.