Govt mulling night curfew in Maharashtra as COVID-19 cases surge: State Minister

In view of the recent surge in COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra, the Uddhav Thackeray government is contemplating imposing a night curfew to curb the virus, State Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Vijay Wadettiwar informed on Sunday while adding that the decision will be soon taken by the state government.

"The coronavirus cases are increasing on daily basis in several districts of Maharashtra. Due to this, an order to enforce the coronavirus norms has been given to all district magistrates. They have also have been authorised to take decisions in view of the pandemic situation," said Wadettiwar.

"In view of rising COVID-19 cases in districts like Nagpur, Amravati, Yatvmal, Maharashtra Government is thinking of imposing a night curfew in the districts. A meeting chaired by the Chief Minister (Uddhav Thackeray) to be held soon to make a decision," he added.

This comes amid a rising number of cases in Maharashtra which has prompted the state government officials to reinforce the coronavirus norms. The State Health Department on Saturday informed that 6,281 new COVID-19 cases and 40 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.

The total cases in the state increased to 20,93,913 including 48,439 active cases and 19,92,530 total recoveries. The death toll in the state mounted to 51,753 including the new deaths, the state department said.

( With inputs from ANI )