COVID-19 update: Night curfew imposed in Haryana - Know what's allowed, what's not

The Haryana government on Monday announced night curfew from 9 pm till 5 am with immediate effect to curb the spike in Covid cases. State Health Minister Anil Vij told the media that the decision was taken in the wake of the sudden spike in cases.

According to the orders issued by the state government, "There shall be prohibition on movement of individuals for all non-essential activities between 9 pm and 5 am in the state of Haryana. No person shall leave their homes or shall move on foot or by vehicle or travel or stand or roam around on any road or public places during the above said hours".

Following persons, services shall be exempted-

1. Those tasked with law and order/ emergencies and municipal services/ duties including Executive Magistrates, Police personnel, military/ CAPF personal in uniform, health, electricity, fire, media persons with accreditation and government machinery tasked with Covid-19 related duties (all on production of identity card).

2. Those specially issued a restricted movement Curfew pass by the officers authorised in this behalf.

3. There shall be no curbs on inter-state and intra-state movement of essential and non-essential goods.

4. All vehicles/ persons in bonafide transit (inter-state/ intra-state) shall be allowed to pass, but only after verification of point of origin and destination.

5. Hospitals, chemist shops and ATM shall be allowed to remain open 24×7.

6. Pregnant women and patients for getting medical/health services.

7. Passengers going to or returning from airport or railway station or ISBT shall be exempted.

"Any person violating these measures will be liable to be proceeded against as per the provisions of Section 51 to 60 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, besides legal action under Section 188 of IPC and other legal provisions, as applicable," the order stated.

Earlier, neighbouring Punjab, Chandigarh, Delhi, and Rajasthan had imposed night curfew too.

The number of active Covid cases in Haryana has doubled in the last 11 days, from 10,300 to over 20,000 on April 11.

On Sunday, Haryana had reported 16 COVID-19 fatalities taking the death toll to 3,268. The total coronavirus case count rose to 3,16,881 with a record spike of 3,440 cases on Sunday, according to a health department bulletin.