Night curfew in Gujarat's Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot to check rise in Covid-19 cases

A day after announcing a 57-hour-long weekend curfew in Ahmedabad to curb rising cases of Covid-19, the Gujarat government has now imposed a night curfew in Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot.

The night curfew will come into effect from tomorrow and will remain in place till further notice, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitinbhai Patel said on Friday.

The timing for the night curfew will be 9 pm to 6 am, the deputy CM said.

Ahmedabad lockdown

To stem the Covid-19 spread in Ahmedabad city after a spike in cases, authorities had on Thursday announced to impose a 57-hour-long curfew in municipal limits from Friday night. The curfew in Ahmedabad city started at 9 pm on Friday (Nov 20) and will end at 6 am on Monday (Nov 23).

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) on Friday said 600-odd city buses operated by it will not ply during the curfew period.

During this “complete curfew”, all essential services like milk, drug stores, municipal services, petrol & gas stations, pharma companies, electrical & water utilities shall operate and personnel connected with their operations shall be allowed to move on possession of valid ID documents, a senior state official said.

"All applicants for exams like CA, NIC, CSIR, SSC etc shall be allowed to go and appear if they possess valid admission cards and also ID documents, during next two days in curfew in Amdavad City," the official said.

The official added that passengers arriving at and leaving from Amdavad airport and railway station shall be permitted movement provided they are in possession of valid tickets and ID proof during two days of curfew in Amdavad city.

From Monday, a night curfew will come into force in the city from 9 pm to 6 am daily till further orders, said an AMC release.

The decision for increased restrictions was taken as Ahmedabad city has been witnessing a steady rise in coronavirus cases since the beginning of this month. From around 140 daily cases a few months ago, the city is now witnessing over 200 COVID-19 single-day infections. As many as 230 persons from the city were found infected with coronavirus in 24 hours ended at 5 pm on Thursday, the state health department had said.

No statewide lockdown: Govt

Earlier in the day, the Gujarat government ruled out a fresh statewide lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said his government is not mulling to impose a statewide lockdown.

Rupani said a “weekend curfew” will be imposed from Friday night only in Ahmedabad city “as a precautionary measure” following a sudden spike in coronavirus cases in the state’s commercial hub.

“There is no question of imposing a lockdown in Gujarat at present. We have decided to implement a weekend curfew, on Saturday and Sunday, in Ahmedabad city only,” he said.