AHMEDABAD, Jan 30: The night curfew in four cities in Gujarat has been further extended till February 15 but with cut of one hour.
The night curfew in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot will be in force from 11 P.M. till 6 A.M. instead of from 10 P.M. as in force till January 31.
The night curfew was imposed in these four cities following a spike in the cases of the coronavirus disease after Diwali in November and was later extended till January 31.
“Starting February, Gujarat will strictly follow till February 28 the COVID-19 guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on January 27. The night curfew would continue to be in force in four metros of the state – Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot and Surat. But it would now be between 11pm to 6am till February 15,” Pankaj Kumar, the additional chief secretary (home), announced on Saturday.
Kumar said the state has succeeded in improving the Covid-19 recovery rate to 96.94%. “But there is a need to remain cautious, vigilant and adhere to the prescribed containment strategy to prevent and completely eradicate the Covid-19 transmission,” he said.
All the activities outside of containment zones will continue according to the standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by various central and state governments’ departments, he added. Kumar also said activities related to weddings, large gatherings, places of worship, malls, restaurants, hotels, cinema halls, swimming pools, gymnasiums, exhibition, passenger movement by train, air travel, Metro train, schools, institutions of higher learning, yoga centres, gymnasiums, etc will have to be conducted in strict adherence to the SOPs.
There are 3,589 active cases of Covid-19 in Gujarat and its caseload stands at 260,901 and the death toll at 4,385, till Friday evening.
(Manas Dasgupta)
