A night curfew has been announced in Uttar Pradesh – from 11 pm to 5 am, starting tomorrow (Saturday) – amid surge in the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.
In addition, UP also said only 200 people could attend marriages and social functions, at which all necessary Covid-safety protocols must be followed. Government sources said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also asked all shopkeepers and traders to follow the “no mask, no goods” policy.
The Madhya Pradesh government has also imposed a night curfew from 11 pm to 5 am, amid growing Omicron cases. The number of coronavirus cases in the state reached 7,93,532 on Tuesday after 23 people were detected with the infection, while one death took the toll to 10,530.
In another move, with the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh slated for early next year, the Allahabad High Court has requested the Election Commission of India to immediately postpone the Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh for 1-2 months. The court has also urged the Prime Minister to “take strong steps” and consider “stopping and postponing” rallies, meetings, and elections.
“If possible, the elections scheduled in February should be postponed by one or two months because only if life continues, then election rallies will continue,” Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav said.
India’s daily Covid-19 cases on Friday rose by 6,650 and deaths shot up by 374 in a day, according to data by the union health ministry. The daily recoveries stood at 7,051 while the active cases declined to 775.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday chaired a high-level review meeting to check preparedness against a possible outbreak of yet another wave of Covid-19. The Prime Minister also said that the focus should be on prompt, effective contact tracing, ramping up testing, accelerating vaccination, and boosting health infrastructure.
