Night curfew in 4 Gujarat cities till March 31 as COVID-19 cases surge

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat government on Tuesday decided to enforce the night curfew in four major cities of the state and extended its timings by two hours with effect from March 17 in a bid to contain the sudden surge in COVID-19 cases.

The curfew will now remain in force in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot from 10 PM to 6 AM from March 17 till March 31, according to an official statement. The curfew timings earlier were from 12 AM to 6 AM.

The decision was taken during the core committee meeting of the coronavirus task-force headed by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Tuesday.

"The state government has decided to impose a curfew from 10 PM to 6 AM in view of the increasing cases of coronavirus," the state government said in the statement.

The restrictions will be in place till March 31, it added.

Earlier on Monday, the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) said the next three T20 matches between India and England will be played without any spectators at the Narendra Modi Stadium here in view of rising cases of coronavirus.

On Monday, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation also asked eateries, restaurants and malls in eight wards of the city to close down at 10 PM.

Gujarat on Monday reported 890 new cases of COVID-19, taking its tally to 2,79,097.

Last month, the state was reporting around 200 new cases every day. Surat has been reporting the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the state, followed by Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Rajkot, as per official data.

Amid a sudden spike in COVID-19 cases across the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a video conference with all chief ministers on Wednesday to discuss the prevailing COVID-19 situation and the ongoing vaccination drive to contain the pandemic. 

According to reports, the virtual meeting will be held around 12.30 PM on March 17. The meeting has been called in the wake of a massive surge in coronavirus cases in several states. 

The Prime Minister, who has been holding regular communication with all ‘the chief ministers of all states/UTs and top health officials since the outbreak of the pandemic, had last interacted with them in January before the launch of the COVID-19 mass vaccination drive.

On Monday, India registered 26,291 cases, a rise of 8,700 in active cases. This is also the highest single-day spike in 85 days, taking the country’s infection tally to 1,13,85,339, according to Union health ministry data.