Shimla, April 14: The Himachal Pradesh government on Tuesday made spitting in public a punishable offence to contain the spread of coronavirus or COVID-19. According to Additional Chief Secretary (Health) RD Dhiman, those found spitting in public will be under the Epidemic Disease Act and sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC). Penal action will be taken against those flouting the order under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code.

Earlier, Himachal Pradesh Director General of Police SR Mardi said that if a coronavirus-infected person spits on someone, he or she will be charged with attempt to murder. He said such an incident was reported from a hospital in the hill state. "And in case any person gets infected thus and dies of COVID-19, a case of murder would be registered against the accused patient," he said in a video message to the media.

Spitting in Public Places Banned in Himachal Pradesh:

Himachal Pradesh has reported 32 coronavirus cases so far. Of them, 13 have recovered, while one patient had died. Spitting in public places has been banned in Rajasthan and Telangana. The total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in India climbed to 10,363, with 1,211 new cases and 31 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per the data published by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 14, 2020 06:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).