Maharashtra, Haryana and Gujarat impose night curfew, other curbs to check Covid surge

The Maharashtra government on Friday imposed a night curfew from 9pm to 6am effective immediately as the state has been seeing a steep rise in the number of Covid cases.

Maharashtra reported 1,410 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, 20 of those infections were due to the Omicron variant. The state now has 108 Omicron variant cases.

Gathering of more than 5 people at any place during the night will not be allowed but essential services will be exempt.

Maharashtra minister Anil Parab said not more than 100 people will be allowed attend wedding events and religious programmes organised in an enclosed place and 250 people will be allowed at open-air events. Hotel, spa, theatres can continue their operations with 50% of their total capacity, the minister said.

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In Haryana, a night curfew has been imposed from 11pm to 5am till further orders.

The Khattar govt has also directed banks, malls and others public places to mandate double vaccination for entry and no more than 200 people will allowed at such places and public events from January 1, 2022. For public gathering in open-air spaces, 300 people will be allowed.

Gujarat has extended night curfew times in 8 cities by 2 hours.

The curfew would be in force from 11 pm to 5 am instead of 1 am to 5 am from December 25 in the cities of Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Vadodara, Junagadh, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar and Gandhinagar.

On Thursday, more than 100 new Covid-19 cases were reported in Gujarat in a single day after nearly seven months. The state has also reported 30 cases of Omicron variant so far.

These cases have been reported in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Jamnagar and Gandhinagar.