Arunachal: Night curfew imposed in COVID-hit Itanagar Capital Region

ITANAGAR: The Itanagar Capital Region (ICR) district administration in Arunachal Pradesh has imposed night curfew from tomorrow in a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the district.

The curfew will start at 9 pm and will be effective till 5 am daily until further orders.

ICR district magistrate in-charge Talo Potom in an order today said the curfew has been imposed following a rapid surge in COVID-19 cases.

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The district adnministration has stated that the pandemic situation in the ICR has been reviewed and there was an urgent need to consider strict COVID management and control measures to bring the situation under control.

“It has been observed that COVID-19 appropriate behaviour is not being followed by the general public which may cause a setback in the appreciable gains made in the suppression of chain of transmission of COVID-19 cases,” the order read.

“Hence, as an emergency measure for the well-being and safety of the people and in order to contain the spread of COVID-19 it is felt that night curfew needs to be imposed in the territorial jurisdiction of ICR,” the order added.

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The ICR has registered a total of 66 new cases yesterday taking the total number of active cases in the region to 290.

The administration has exempted all essential services from the purview of the curfew though.

Officers involved in emergency services, medical and police personnel, fire and emergency services, district administration and disaster management related services have been exempted.

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Officers and officials related to the functioning of offices of diplomats, persons holding constitutional posts and the media have also been exempted.

Violation of the order will court prosecution under the provisions of Section 51 to 60 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, apart from legal action under Section 188 of the IPC, the order read.

The ICR district administration had earlier on Wednesday prohibited all religious congregations and public gatherings in any public or commercial establishments.