As the number of daily new Covid-19 cases doubled to 992 in the last 24 hours, the Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday announced the closure of all schools till Class X – government as well as private – till January 14. In the districts with more than 1,000 active cases, the government has ordered the closure of cinema halls, spas, gyms, banquet halls, while restaurants can operate with 50 per cent capacity. Moreover, for weddings, a limit of 100 people for closed-space venues and 50 per cent capacity in case of open spaces has been set. While, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Lucknow, Meerut are reporting the highest number of new cases - 165, 174, 150 and 102, respectively, in the last 24 hours; the active cases in the districts have shot up to 597, 561, 486, 309 respectively. There were 3,173 active cases in the state as of Tuesday, as per the government health bulletin. The government also decided to increase the limit of night curfew from 10 pm to 6 am starting from January 6. With 23 samples sent for genome testing returning positive for the highly transmissible omicron variant, the government has ordered contact tracing of all the positive cases. Directives have also been issued to ensure that all those arriving in Prayagraj to attend “Magh Mela” would have to bring a negative RT-PCR test report of 48 hours before reaching the venue.
