SHIMLA: There will be no public new year celebrations in Shimla, Kullu, Kangra and Mandi as the Himachal Pradesh government has extended night curfew in the four districts till January 5 to contain the spread of COVID-19.
The decision to extend the curfew was taken in a state cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur here on Monday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Bhardwaj said.
The curfew will be in place from 9 pm to 6 am in Shimla, Mandi, Kangra and Kullu districts, Bhardwaj said.
Earlier, the state government had decided to impose night curfew from November 23 to December 15.
Night life to take hit in Ahmedabad too
Since a night curfew is in place in Ahmedabad in Gujarat to contain the coronavirus outbreak, there will be no parties on December 31 to ring in the new year, a senior police official said on Monday.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Control Room) Harshad Patel said police will be deployed in uniform as well as plainclothes to nab those moving about in a drunken state or breaking outbreak norms.
"Since night curfew is already in effect in the city, all kinds of celebrations on the night of December 31 are prohibited. If police come across any such activity after 9:00 pm, appropriate action, including registration of FIR, will be taken against violators," Patel told reporters.
He said those celebrating before 9pm need to follow all COVID-19 guidelines, including maintaining social distancing and wearing masks.
As many as 237 new coronavirus cases emerged in Ahmedabad city in a 24-hour period ending at 5pm on Monday, officials said.
To contain the outbreak, the state government had imposed curfew between 9pm and 6am in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot from November 23.
The city added 247 cases to its COVID-19 tally on Tuesday, the highest for the day for any district in Gujarat, while seven people died and 238 recovered, an official said.
The overall count of the infection is now 54,208, which includes 2,180 deaths, while 49,025 people have been discharged so far, he added.
"In Ahmedabad city, as against 237 new cases being reported, 229 people recovered. In the rural part of the district, it was 10 and nine respectively," he said.
Bed occupancy rate in the city's COVID-19 designated private hospitals dropped significantly to 40.2 per cent, indicating an improvement in outbreak situation here, officials pointed out.
"Of the 3,775 beds available in 107 private hospitals, 1,517 were occupied, with 133 beds occupied in ICUs with ventilators and 132 vacant. In the city's private COVID care centres, only seven beds out of 318 are occupied," said the Ahmedabad Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association.
An AMC official said the city's north-west zone had 484 active cases, followed by west zone with 455, and south- west zone with 405.
The number of micro containment areas in the city stood at 72, down from 87 a day earlier.