Night Curfew Imposed In Numerous States Amid Omicron Threat- All You Need To Know​

Karnataka government released the curfew guidelines on Monday, where night curfew will be imposed from 10 pm to 5 am, from December 28, 2021, to January 7, 2022, owing to the rise in the Omicron cases in the state. No public gatherings or events will be held for the New Year in Karnataka as per the guidelines. Other states have taken precautionary measures to contain the virus obstructing the New Year celebrations.

National capital Delhi is likely to implement Level- 1, 'Yellow Alert' as COVID positivity crosses 0.5% in its third consecutive day, and the state has imposed a night curfew beginning from Monday, December 27, 2021, from 11 pm to 5 am. Assam has imposed a night curfew from 11:30 pm to 6 am from December 26, despite having no confirmed reported Omicron cases in the state.

Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh have imposed a curfew from 11 pm to 5 am from December 25, as the number of Omicron cases rise in considerable numbers in these states. The Gujarat government extended its curfew for two more hours in eight cities from December 25, and the new timings would be extended from 11 pm to 5 am, instead of 1 am to 5 am. Maharashtra, the worst hit, has registered 1,426 new coronavirus cases, with 26 more Omicron cases and 21 deaths on Monday, it has imposed a curfew from 9 pm to 6 am.

The celebrations for New Year have been called off in the state, the Maharashtra government stated. Kerala announced that on Monday that they would be imposing night curfews as well, from December 30, from 10 pm to 5 am as the recent state to impose curfew in the country.

Rising Tension

On December 27, India saw the highest single-day rise of Omicron infections with 156 fresh cases, taking the total tally of such cases to 578, as reported by the Mint. Goa and Manipur have registered their first cases of Omicron in the states. The 578 cases have been logged in 19 states across the country, urging the Central government to advise the states to impose restrictions during the New Year celebrations owing to high risk.

The first recipients of coronavirus vaccines' booster or "precautionary" dose will be for people older than 60 with associated comorbidities, and those who got their second dose nine months ago, CoWIN platform Chief Dr RS Sharma told ANI as reported by Business Standard.

Children aged 15-18, who are now eligible for the shot, will be able to register on the CoWIN platform from January 1, 2022, and only Covaxin would be prescribed to be as specified by the Union Health Ministry.

Elections Unlikely To Be Postponed

On December 24, the Allahabad High Court urged that the state assembly elections in five states be postponed. The elections rallies and gatherings are banned owing to the rising Omicron cases in the country. However, the Election Commission is unlikely to postpone the elections and are fixed to the given dates as of now. Next year, the five states with the elections are Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand, and Manipur.

While Goa has reported its first cases of Omicron on Monday and Uttar Pradesh imposing night curfews and the other states with a high risk of spreading infections, the commission has rejected the suggestion of postponing the elections to a month or two. "If rallies are not stopped, results will be worse than the second wave," Justice Shekhar Yadav said as reported by the NDTV.

The rallies are rising in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, while India reported its highest number of Omicron cases, shooting the risk of the mass spreading of the virus.

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