Goa became the latest state today to declare night curfew to cut the deadly transmission chain of the coronavirus sweeping the country. The curfew, from 10 pm to 6 am, will come into from tonight and remain in operation till April 30, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said after chairing a high-level meeting.
Casinos, restaurants, bars and cinema halls are allowed to operate at 50 per cent capacity.
Petrol pumps, pharmacies and other essential services will remain open during the curfew hours, said the Chief Minster.
During the night curfew only commercial vehicles transporting essential goods would be allowed to ply.
The coastal state, which draws a lot of tourists, reported 694 fresh coronavirus cases and 26 related deaths in the last 24 hours, as per the Health Ministry's data.
The state government will review the situation on April 30, and decide if it night curfew merits an extension, the Chief Minister said.
Public will not be allowed to be on the road during the curfew. The wedding functions cannot have more than 50 guests and only up to 20 people can attend funerals.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address to the nation on Tuesday night, underscored the need to follow COVID appropriate behaviour and urged states to use lockdowns as an absolute last resort. The PM nudged the states to focus on micro-containment zones to save the citizens from the virus.
"In a situation like today, we have to save the country from a lockdown. If you all work together, create awareness then there is no need for containment, never mind a lockdown. I appeal to states that they should use the lockdown as the last resort - our focus should be micro-containment zones," said PM, adding the government will take care of economic health as well as the health of countrymen.
Among other states, Karnataka, Telangana have announced night curfew. The Tripura government has imposed a seven-hour night curfew from April 22 in Agartala for an indefinite period. Delhi became the first to declare a week-long lockdown amid rising cases. It was followed by Jharkhand.
Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope said the state cabinet favours a "strict lockdown" and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is likely to make an announcement in this regard on Wednesday.
The country is witnessing record surge in infections on a daily basis. Today is the seventh straight day of the country seeing over two lakh new cases. India's tally of more than 1.56 crore Covid cases is the second-highest globally, behind the United States and ahead of Brazil's. 1,82,553 deaths have been recorded so far in the country.
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