COVID-19 surge: Pune gets night curfew, stringent norms from today

Alarmed by the huge spike in coronavirus cases, the Pune administration has announced stringent measures, including 6 p.m. - 6 a.m. curfew starting Friday night for a week, top officials said in Pune on Friday.

All hotels, restaurants and malls will remain shut for the next seven days, though home delivery of household stuff shall be permitted.

The development came after a review meet chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday morning with top officials of the administration, police, health and other departments.

These new restrictions will be applicable for the next seven days from Saturday. As part of it, there will be a curfew from 6 pm to 6 am. Eateries, bars and restaurants will remain closed, but home delivery of the food will continue," Pune divisional commissioner Saurabh Rao said.

"Malls, cinema halls will remain shut for seven days from Saturday. All religious places will also be closed for a week," he said.

Except weddings and last rite rituals, all other public gatherings have been banned in the district. For weddings, only 50 people will be allowed and only 20 people can remain present forlast rites, he added.

He said that essential services have been exempted from 6 pm to 6 am curfew.

Buses of the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML), city's public transport system, will remain off roads for the next seven days, Rao said, adding that schools and colleges will remain closed till April 30.

"All these decisions were taken in view of the surge in COVID-19 cases in the last few days. The situation is becoming critical. In the last one week, the positivity rate of the district has crossed 32 per cent," Rao said.

The situation will be reviewed after seven days when further decision will be taken, he said.

According to him, efforts were on to increase the number of beds in hospitals in the district.

"Since vaccination is the key to bring down the impact of infection, the speed of giving vaccines will be increased in the coming days," he said.

With Agencies inputs