Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has ordered night curfew from 9 pm to 5 am in the worst affected cities of Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Patiala from Saturday to contain COVID-19 spread.

"Concerned over the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the state, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has ordered night curfew from 9 pm to 5 am in the worst affected cities of Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Patiala from Saturday, while directing all big cities/towns to prepare an integrated management plan for treatment of the disease at both Government and private facilities," said the state government in a press release on Friday.

The Chief Minister also announced a week-long trial of enforcement of the mandatory mask-wearing rule by making offenders stand at the spot for an hour with a mask on.

A total of 1,063 new cases of COVID-19 and 23 deaths were reported in Punjab in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to 21,930 in the state.

According to the official data, as many as 381 people have recovered from the virus on Friday.

The total number of cases includes 7,351 active cases, 14,040 cured/discharged and 539 deaths due to COVID-19.

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