Karnataka imposes night curfew till January 2 amid concerns over new UK coronavirus strain

The night curfew will remain in force between 10 pm and 6 am till January 2 across Karnataka.

BENGALURU: Amid concerns over the new coronavirus strain detected in the United Kingdom, the Karnataka government led by Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Wednesday announced the imposition of a night curfew across the state starting from December 23 till January 2, 2021.  

"The Karnataka government has imposed night curfew (between 10 pm & 6 am) in the state, starting today; the curfew will remain in place till January 2,'' Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said.

The Chief Minister took the decision after a meeting with the state’s health minister and technical committee. "This (night curfew) has been done to prevent and contain the coronavirus strain found in the UK. We are also monitoring international passengers arriving in the state,'' Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said.

Between December 23 and January 2, no function or festive celebration is allowed to take place after 10 pm. It applies to every kind of function, the  Karnataka Health Minister said on being asked if Christmas celebrations would be allowed on December 25.

Between December 23 and January 2, no function or festive celebration is allowed to take place after 10 pm. It applies to every kind of functions: Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar on being asked if Christmas celebrations would be allowed on December 25 https://t.co/4Tr1YvZwwq — ANI (@ANI) December 23, 2020

Karnataka Health Minister also informed the media that the authorities have started monitoring international passengers arriving into the state.

The Karnataka government also made it mandatory for all international passengers to get an RT-PCR negative certificate 72 hours prior to their journey to the state in the wake of the emergence of a new UK COVID-19 strain.

The announcement comes two days after Maharashtra also announced new measures in view of the detection of the new strain of novel coronavirus, which the British government said was more infectious and highly transmissible. However, it has yet to be ascertained whether the new strain is deadlier also than the COVID-19 virus which the world has been battling since the start of this year.

The Maharashtra government on Monday announced that night curfew will be enforced in the state’s municipal corporation areas till January 5 starting December 22, from 11 pm to 6 am. Further, Maharashtra has mandated 14-day institutional quarantine for international arrivals from European and Middle East countries.

A total of 1,141 new coronavirus cases and 14 deaths were reported in Karnataka on Tuesday, according to the state`s Department of Health and Family Welfare. There are 13,993 active Covid-19 cases as of December 22 here. As many as 1,136 people recovered from the lethal virus on Tuesday, taking the tally of recovered cases to 8,85,341.

The state has witnessed 12,029 fatalities due to the pathogen so far, as per the Department of Health and Family Welfare here. Meanwhile, India continues to witness a steady decline in daily new coronavirus cases as 19,556 new Covid-19 cases were reported in the last 24 hours taking the total count to 1,00,75,116.

The total recoveries have gone up to 96,36,487 with 30,376 new recoveries recorded on Tuesday. The recovery rate stands at 95.65 per cent. The country continues to witness a steady decline in daily new coronavirus infections as only 19,556 new Covid-19 cases were reported in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.