Weekend curfew declared in Jammu and Kashmir from tonight 8pm to Monday 6am

Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday announced a 34-hour weekend curfew from Saturday to arrest the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), according to the office of lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha.

Essential and emergency services will be allowed during the weekend curfew but all other markets and commercial institutions will remain closed from 8pm on Saturday to 6am on Monday, the L-G’s office added.

"Complete corona curfew to be observed in the Union Territory from 8PM, 24th April (Saturday) till 6AM, April 26 (Monday). Essential and emergency services to be allowed.

All market, commercial institutions will remain closed," the L-G’s office tweeted.

On Friday, the number of coronavirus disease cases in the Union territory went over 156,000 as nearly 2000 people tested positive for the deadly virus. Jammu district reported the highest number of Covid-19 cases at 525 followed by 501 cases in Srinagar and 156 in Budgam on Friday.

The number of active cases in the Union territory stood at nearly 17,000 cases, as per the news agency PTI.

The second wave of the virus has hit the country hard even as 346,786 fresh Covid-19 infections and 2624 deaths were reported on Saturday.

The steady rise in the number of infections took the country’s active cases’ tally to more than 2.5 million, the Union health ministry's data shows.

Many states and Union territories have imposed measures to contain the spread of the virus as the healthcare infrastructure in the country is collapsing.