Food For Thought: Can Hefty Fines Deter People From Violating Safety Norms?  

Summary

• While the Government had been proactive in imposing safety restrictions, people don’t seem to be abiding by the safety norms across nations.
• Hefty fines have been imposed across several countries like England, the UAE, Australia, India and some others to contain the spread of the virus.
• As economies have opened, people and businesses seem to have misunderstood the idea of the same and are not seen following the health safety norms.
• Fines up to A$20,000 were imposed in Victoria, and up to £10,000 were introduced across England depending upon the nature of the offence.

While imposing hefty fines have proven to be a deterrent for people violating the rules and regulations, the Governments across nations are looking up to the same measure to stop people from violating safety norms amid the sprawling COVID-19.

For a moment, it seemed the world would be able to tackle the spread of the mysterious disease earlier than anticipated. However, things did not turn out to as expected, and the countries are witnessing a second wave of infections.

On top of this, we are still waiting on the vaccine development front with leading healthcare companies entering the final phases during the last quarter of 2020. Earlier projections indicated delivery of vaccine by September end.

It had been some time since the global onset of COVID-19, and people have undergone severe restrictions on movement and socialising. Gradually, these restrictions have been eased in phases.

Related: How is COVID-19 Second-Wave Scenario Impacting Businesses and Households?

Although economies have been opened and physical movement restrictions have been lifted, people are still being asked to follow some safety norms like maintaining social distancing and wearing a mask or face covering.

However, people have not been sincere in following the norms and guidelines issued by the authorities to keep them safe from the virus. To some extent, the negligence of people in abiding by the safety norms has led to the second wave of infections across major cities globally.

Back to back increase in cases and negligence from the people have compelled the authorities to make harsh decisions like imposing hefty fines on violators of safety norms.

Fines Up To 10,000 Pounds Introduced Across England

A fine of £1,000 had been introduced across England for the people who did not quarantine themselves after testing positive for COVID-19. However, the fine can increase up to £10,000 for repeat offenders and most serious breaches. These also include people preventing others from self-isolating.

Further, the employers who push their staff to join work during their period of isolation are also liable to pay up to £10,000 as fine.

These fines have been imposed as a legal duty to self-isolate and became effective from 28 September 2020, under which it is necessary for the people in England to self-isolate themselves if they are contacted by NHS Test and Trace or test positive for COVID-19.

Also read: Europe Faces the Threat of The Second Wave

The norms regarding fines were imposed as a small measure like fines has the potential to make a significant difference to curb the spread of the virus. Other than these fines, the Government also introduced a support payment of £500 for the people whose income is lower and cannot work from home while undergoing self-isolation.

Other Countries Stepping into Similar Shoes

However, England is not the first nation to do so. Declaring a war against COVID-19, the Saudi Government had also introduced safety norms to be strictly followed. Further tightening the grip over violators, the Government introduced fines for hosting celebratory gatherings and issued strict guidelines restricting the number of guests at weddings.

ALSO READ: Virus Mutation, Second Wave of Infection and Latest Vaccine Developments

In India, too, public compliance on safety measures had been dealt with negligence, despite the distressing escalation in daily infections. The concerned authorities have imposed fines over people not following the public safety measures and huge sums of penalties have been collected. These fines were imposed over the violators of COVID-19 protocol like those not wearing masks.

These measures are being imposed on violators to ensure they maintain 100% compliance with health safety measures post they pay a high cost for their reckless behaviour.

Australian City Imposes Penalties Up To A$20,000

In Australia too, the Government had introduced hefty fines as much as A$20,000 on anyone violating the COVID-19 isolation orders. These measures were imposed across Victoria, Australia’s second-most populous state, to contain the spread of the virus, when it experiencing a second wave of infections.

Violators of stay at home orders were to be penalised up to A$5,000, while in cases of people repeatedly violating the norms, these fines could go up to A$20,000. It is said that nearly $3 million worth of fine has been collected during the stage 4 lockdown in Melbourne city in August 2020.

Interesting Read: Fear of second wave of COVID-19 forces Tourism Industry to take another hit

Bottomline

It is a matter of dismay that many people are being fined for not wearing masks despite knowing the repercussions of getting infected with the disease. To ensure safety of the nation, the introduction of such fines by the Government demonstrates the need to contain the virus in the best possible way and stop offenders from behaving recklessly during the pandemic.