Gandhinagar, May 5 (IANS): The Gujarat government on Tuesday extended the night curfew to control spread of coronavirus to seven other cities, apart from the 29 major cities where the curbs are in effect from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The curfew, imposed in five north Gujarat and two south Gujarat cities, will come into force from Wednesday and will last till May 12.
The state has been seeing an unprecedented scenario unfolding, with rising cases and deaths in April.
But even though the number of new cases has been coming down since last four days, the daily spike of positive cases is still around 13,000 and the total caseload has climbed over six lakh, following which the night curfew was extended to Deesa, Ankleshwar, Vapi, Modasa, Radhanpur, Kadi, and Visnagar.
The government had already banned political or social gatherings till May 5 and reduced the number of guests who could attend a marriage ceremony to 50 from 100, following the Gujarat High Court order. Other gatherings have also been limited to a maximum of 50.
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani chaired a high-powered core committee meeting late on Tuesday evening at his residence where the latest decision was taken.
The night curfew had been imposed in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamangar, Bhavnagar, Junagadh, Gandhinagar, Anand, Nadiad, Mehasana, Morbi, Dahod, Patan, Godhra, Bhuj, Gandhidham, Bharuch, Surendranagar, Amreli, Himmatnagar, Palanpur, Navsari, Valsad, Porbandar, Botad, Viramgam, Chotta Udepur, Gir-Somnath, and Veraval.
All businesses and activities apart from essential services have been asked to shut down. Essential services like medical, and para medical will continue, as well as sale of food, vegetables, and milk. Manufacturing units and industries can operate, provided Covid protocols are strictly followed.
All shopping malls and complexes, auditoriums, cinema halls, flea markets, swimming pools, gymnasiums, saloons, spa, beauty parlours, amusement parks, gardens, among others, have been closed.
Public transport will continue with 50 per cent capacity.