Gujarat High Court observes 'need for lockdown in state', orders govt to take action

In view of the increasing number of COVID-19 incidents, the Gujarat High Court on Tuesday, April 6, ordered the state government to determine whether to enforce a weekend curfew. The state is in need of a lockdown, said the HC, as new infections continue to increase at an alarming rate.

'Need for lockdown in Gujarat', observes state High Court

This came after Gujarat crossed the 3,000 mark for new infections for the first time on Monday, April 5. According to the State Health Ministry, more than 3,160 people had tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total to 3,21,598. However, the state recorded 3,145 fresh Coronavirus cases on Tuesday with 15 more deaths taking the cumulative number of deaths to 4,581. The number of active cases reached 16,252. Also, 3,00,765 people have recovered so far. 

The Coronavirus cases are increasing at an unprecedented rate in India as the country recorded 96,536 new infections in the span of 24 hours taking the total caseload to 1,26,86,049. Until 8:00 am on April 6, 2021, the recovery rate had reached 1,17,32,279. The number of active cases, on the other hand, is 7,88,223. The Union Health Ministry informed that in the last 24 hours, 446 new deaths were confirmed, bringing the overall death toll to 1,65,547.

Gujarat HC directs state govt to take a decision on weekend curfew

Earlier, the Gujarat government announced the imposition of a night curfew in four major cities till April 15. Between 9 pm to 6 am, a curfew is in effect in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, and Rajkot. The Gujarat government has also extended the deadline for enforcing the Centre's guidelines on testing, tracing, and care, as well as other steps, till April 30.

Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh have seen a sharp increase in COVID-19 infections, accounting for 80.04% of cases registered on Tuesday, said the Union health ministry. 

(With inputs from ANI) Picture Credit: PTI/ANI