1st night curfew: 411 FIRs filed, 754 challans issued

More than 400 FIRs were registered and 754 challans were issued for violations of Covid-appropriate behaviour during the first day of night curfew imposed across the national capital amid rising cases of coronavirus infections, the Delhi Police said.

The curfew is imposed from 11 pm to 5 am and according to a data shared by the Delhi Police for Monday-Tuesday, 411 FIRs under section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 754 challans were issued to those violating Covid guidelines.

In the last two days, the Delhi government is said to have taken action against 8,547 people for various Covid-related violations, registered 53 FIRs and imposed fine of Rs 1,70,24,300.

According to official figures of December 27 shared by the Delhi Government, 4,122 violations related to Covidappropriate behaviour were reported.

Out of them, 4,001 were related to face mask violations at public or work place, 87 violations were for not maintaining social distancing protocol and 34 were for spitting in public places, it said.

Of the 4,001 mask violations, maximum were reported from north district (656) followed by east (639) and southwest (501), the data showed.

On December 27, 15 FIRs were registered for violating Covid-19 guidelines while a fine of Rs 81,51,900 was imposed on violators, it said.

Amid a scare about the spread of the Omicron variant, Delhi on Tuesday has reported 496 fresh COVID-19 cases in a day, the highest since June 4, with the positivity rate rising to 0.89 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department.

The Delhi government on Sunday had decided to re-impose night curfew from 11 pm to 5 am from Monday in view of surge in daily cases and significant rise in positivity rate. States like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka and Kerala have also reimposed night curfew.

According to a graded response action plan, a ''Yellow'' alert has come into force, bringing a set of restrictions.

There has been a spike in fresh cases in the last few days amid a jump in cases of new Omicron variant of the coronavirus here.

India saw the highest single-day rise of Omicron infections with 156 fresh cases, taking the total tally of such cases to 578, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday.