Gujarat: Night curfew time extended by two hours in eight major cities

Gujarat has seen a surge in coronavirus cases of late

Amid Omicron concerns and increase in daily new coronavirus cases, the Gujarat government on Friday extended the duration of night curfew in eight cities by two hours.

The curfew would be in force from 11 pm to 5 am instead of 1 am to 5 am, said a notification issued by the state home department. The new time will be implemented from December 25 in the cities of Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Vadodara, Junagadh, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar and Gandhinagar, it said. "Commercial activities in shops, restaurants, shopping complexes, marketing yards, marts, hair cutting saloons, beauty parlours among others in these eight cities are allowed to remain open till 11 pm," said the notification. Other restrictions imposed in view of the pandemic will remain in force as per the order dated November 30, 2021, it stated. Gujarat has seen a surge in COVID-19 cases of late. On Thursday, more than 100 new cases were reported in a single day after nearly seven months. The state has also reported 30 cases of Omicron variant so far. These cases have been reported in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Jamnagar and Gandhinagar.