The Delhi Disaster Management Authority today placed a night curfew in the national capital ahead of the 2021 New Year’s Eve celebrations. Tonight and tomorrow, between 11 pm and 6 am no public gatherings in Delhi will be permitted to limit New Year’s celebrations.
As per the order signed by Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev, no new year celebrations, congregations, and public gatherings will be allowed from 11 pm on 31 December to 6 am on 1 January and from 11 pm on 1 January to 6 am on 2 January, respectively.
“A detailed assessment of the situation in Delhi has been made and considering the threat posed by the mutant UK strain of COVID-19 virus and after observing the local incidents of COVID-19 pandemic in Delhi, it is apprehended that gatherings, congregations, and public celebrations of New Year pose a considerable threat of the spread of the virus and may cause a setback to the appreciable gains made in the suppression of chain of transmission of Covid-19 cases in Delhi,” an order issued by Chief Secretary Vijay Dev said.
With this, in order to curb the spread of the coronavirus, Delhi joins Punjab, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Rajasthan in enforcing the night curfew.
On Wednesday, the government of Delhi ordered the establishment of isolation facilities in four private hospitals for those who traveled from or transited through the United Kingdom between 25 November and 24 December and tested positive for the new coronavirus strain.
As a precautionary measure during the winter season, the Union Health Ministry has asked all states to keep a strict watch on New Year celebrations that could be possible COVID-19 super-spreader events and also to curb crowding.
Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan stated in a letter to the States and Union Territories that the number of active cases of COVID-19 has been steadily declining in the country over the last three and a half months.
India suspended all flights from the United Kingdom from midnight on 23 December to 7 January, following the discovery in that country of a mutated SARS-CoV-2 strain.