New Delhi: In the wake of rising cases of coronavirus, the Delhi government on Tuesday decided to impose night curfew in the national capital from today till April 30. As per order from the Delhi government, the night curfew will be in place from 10 PM till 5 AM. However, the seential services during the night curfew will be allowed.

Issuing an order, the Delhi government said that buses, metro, autos, taxis and other modes of public transport will be allowed to ferry only those people who are exempt from night curfew. “The departments providing essential services to remain exempt from the night curfew. Rules applicable to movement of people and not essential goods and services,” the Delhi government said.

The Delhi government further added that private doctors, nurses and paramedical staff will remain exempt from night curfew if ID card is produced. “Passengers going to airports, railway stations and bus stations will be exempted if a valid ticket is produced. Pregnant women and patients going for treatment exempted,” the order stated.

The decision to impose night curfew was taken amid rising number of cases in the city. On Monday, Delhi reported 3,548 cases and 15 deaths. Notably, this is one of the toughest orders taken by the Delhi government since a fresh surge in coronavirus infections reported in the capital.

On Friday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said that the national capital was going through the fourth wave of COVID-19 but a lockdown was not being considered yet.

In the wake of the rising cases of coronavirus, the Delhi government was mulling to take strict measures to fight the new COVID surge.

One official at the Delhi government had told news agency PTI that a proposal for imposing night curfew is under consideration.

Apart from Delhi, several other states such as Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Odisha, Gujarat and Punjab have imposed night curfew to check the surge in Covid-19 cases.

The development comes at a time when the daily rise in new coronavirus infections in India remained above 90,000 for the third consecutive day taking the nationwide COVID-19 tally of cases to 1,26,86,049.

The Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday that a total of 96,982 cases have been reported in a span of 24 hours, while the death toll increased to 1,65,547 with 446 daily new fatalities.

India on Monday recorded an all-time high of 1,03,558 single day new coronavirus infections in a span of 24 hours.

Registering a steady increase for the 27th day in row, the active cases have increased to 7,88,223 comprising 6.21 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate has further dropped to 92.48 per cent, the data stated.