Amid the surge in Covid-19 cases, the Rajasthan government has imposed a night curfew from 8pm to 6am within urban limits of 13 districts for the period of December 1 to 31. The lockdown shall remain in force in containment zones till December 31, said the government officials.
The list of 13 districts include Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Udaipur, Alwar, Bhilwara, Bikaner, Pali, Nagore, Ajmer, Tonk, Sikar and Ganganagar. All the marketplaces, workplaces and commercial complexes will remain closed from 7 pm, unless a special permission is obtained from the officer authorised by the District Collector in this regard.
However, the state government has exempted the issued order on workplaces related to medical services, factories with productions of continuous nature, IT companies, chemists shops, factories having night shifts, marriage related gathering, offices related to emergency services, passengers coming or going to transport terminals.
The night curfew order will also not be applicable to the movement of trucks and other goods carriers, and persons employed for loading and unloading the goods.
Educational institutes including schools, colleges, coaching institutes will remain closed for students till December 31, the order said. Cinema halls and multiplexes will also remain closed.
Any religious, cultural, political and sports events involving large congregations will not be permitted till December 31.
Home Principal Secretary, Abhay Kumar said that Rajasthan is at a critical emergency in its battle against coronavirus. The number of new cases has been rising over the past few weeks due to factors such as recent festival season and onset of winter. The situation also aggravated due to laxity in observance of Covid-19 guidelines, said the secretary while issuing the guidelines.
Meanwhile, the state has witnessed 2,518 fresh Covid-19 cases on Sunday. The total positive cases are reported to be 2,65,386. With fresh 18 coronavirus deaths, the total fatalities reached to 2,292, according to the state’s health department bulletin. A total of 2,34,336 patients have recovered and the number of active cases recoreded in the state is 28,758.
While the maximum fresh cases of 555 people were detected from Jaipur. 395 cases from Jodhpur, 211 from Kota, 164 from Ajmer and 101 from Udaipur were reported. The remaining cases were registered from other districts.