Omicron surge: 11 pm to 5 am night curfew in UP from December 25

The Uttar Pradesh government has announced a night curfew from 11 pm to 5 am, starting Saturday (December 25) in view of the rising cases of Omicron across the country.

The state which has reported two cases of Omicron, had logged 31 new COVID cases on Thursday.

Uttar Pradesh is the second poll-bound state after Madhya Pradesh to have announced curbs ahead amid the Omicron scare.

The government, as per the new rules, has capped the number of participants at gatherings like weddings and social functions at 200. It has also mandated all COVID-19-related protocols to be strictly adhered to at these functions.

Also read: 122 new Omicron cases takes India tally to 358, active COVID-19 cases at 77k

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has also ordered officials to ensure that the “no mask, no goods” policy is followed for traders.

The government has instructed officials to mandatorily conduct COVID test for travellers coming from abroad and other states via rail and bus.

The announcement comes a day after the Allahabad High Court urged the Centre to ban poll rallies and postpone Assembly elections in view of a surge in cases of Omicron, which as per experts is set to be the dominant COVID variant globally.

With Madhya Pradesh also having imposed a night curfew, its home minister has urged the Centre to postpone the state panchayat elections.

Punjab, which is also goes to polls next year, however, hasn’t imposed any COVID-related restrictions yet. Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi has urged residents to follow COVID guidelines.

The country so far has recorded 358 cases of the variant across 17 states with Andhra Pradesh recording two fresh cases on Friday itself.

Meanwhile, India recorded 6,650 new coronavirus infections while the active COVID-19 tally declined to 77,516.

The death toll due to the disease has climbed to 4,79,133, with 374 daily fatalities being recorded.

Out of the 358 Omicron cases, 114 have recovered or migrated, according to Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.