Night curfew extended in eight Gujarat cities amid Omicron threat

The night curfew has been in effect in these cities since November 1.

New Delhi: Amid the Omicron threat, the Gujarat government on Tuesday (November 30, 2021) extended the night curfew in eight cities of the state till December 10.

As per a government notification, the night curfew will remain in place in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar, Gandhinagar and Junagadh for 10 more days.

This is to be noted that the night curfew has been in effect in these cities between 1 am and 5 am since November 1. The curfew timings were also reduced by two hours in view of Diwali and Chhath Puja and due to a drop in daily COVID-19 cases.

Night curfew guidelines in Gujarat 

• Commercial establishments such as APMCs, shops and beauty salons, in these cities can operate till 12 am, while restaurants can remain open till midnight with 75 per cent occupancy.
• Home delivery and take-away services are permitted till midnight.
• Cinema halls can function with 100 per cent capacity in the entire state.
• Not more than 400 people can attend weddings and religious or political functions till December 10, and only 100 people can take part in funeral processions.

The state government had earlier stated that people should have taken at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine to work in business establishments or offices, and recommending that those eligible should also take the second dose of the vaccine.

The state government on Saturday had also made it mandatory for people coming to India from nine 'at risk' countries to undergo RT-PCR tests on their arrival at international airports.

Meanwhile, Gujarat on Tuesday recorded 40 new COVID-19 infections that took the state's total caseload to 8,27,475. While no death was reported during the day, only three fatalities due to the pandemic were reported in the state in November. So far, 10,092 people have died of the virus in the state.  

27 patients also got discharged on Tuesday and the number of recovered cases in Gujarat increased to 8,17,108.

There are also 275 active coronavirus cases in the state including seven patients whose condition was said to be critical. 

Earlier on Monday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had warned that the global risk from the Omicron variant is 'very high' based on the early evidence. It stated that the mutated coronavirus could lead to surges with 'severe consequences'. 

(With PTI inputs)