Indian state imposes night curfew till Jan. 2 amid !

MUMBAI : Indian southwestern state of Karnataka on Wednesday imposed an eight-hour night curfew from Wednesday till Jan. 2 over concerns about the new mutant strain of coronavirus.

Karnataka would enforce a night curfew from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. after the western state of Maharashtra earlier this week announced a seven-hour night curfew from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. till Jan. 5.

The new restrictions are likely to impact the Christmas and New Year celebrations in Karnataka state that stands second to Maharashtra state for the maximum number of COVID-19 cases in Asia’s third-largest economy.

“Between Dec. 23 and Jan. 2, no event or festive celebration is allowed to take place after 10:00 p.m. It applies to every kind of event,” said the state health minister Dr. K Sudhakar.

Earlier in the day, the city civic chief of Bengaluru, the political capital of Karnataka and India’s information technology capital tested positive for COVID-19. So far, Karnataka has 14,012 active cases and 12,029 deaths due to COVID-19.