Night curfew to continue for 15 more days in four Gujarat cities

Even as fresh cases of coronavirus are on decline in Gujarat, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Friday asserted that night curfew will remain in place in four major cities of the state for the next 15 days as a precautionary measure.

While urging people to be patient and cooperate with the authorities for some more days, Rupani said the viral infection has come under control due to the night curfew imposed in November, 2020 in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot.

"The night curfew after 10 pm will continue for 15 more days in all four cities. There will be no relaxation for now, as there is a drastic decrease in new cases (because of curfew). People need to have patience and cooperate with the authorities," he told reporters in Jamnagar.

A decision about lifting the curfew will be taken at an appropriate juncture, he said.

Following a sudden spike in fresh coronavirus cases after Diwali last year, the state government had imposed a night curfew in four major cities of Gujarat in November, 2020.

Earlier, people were barred from venturing out between 9 pm till 6 am every day in these cities.

However, in a minor respite, the timing was recently revised to 10 pm till 6 am.

Notably, when the curfew was imposed, 1,500 to 1,600 fresh cases of coronavirus were emerging every day in Gujarat and the majority of these infections were from the four cities.

As on Thursday, Gujarat's COVID-19 tally stood at 2,54,314 cases, including 4,357 fatalities.