Delhi Night Curfew News: Confirmed! Check dates, timings here - New coronavirus strain

Night Curfew in Delhi Today: The Delhi government has imposed night curfew from 11 pm to 6 am on December 31 and January 1 to avoid large gatherings during New Year celebrations due to COVID-19 and its highly transmissible UK strain.

According to an order issued by Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev, the night curfew will also be imposed from 11 pm on January 1 to 6 am on January 2.

It stated that not more than five people will be allowed to assemble at public places in Delhi during night curfew to avoid large gatherings in view of COVID-19.

However, there will be no restriction on interstate movement of people and goods during night curfew in Delhi, the chief secretary said in the order.

The Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday the new strain of the coronavirus, which was found in the UK, has so far been detected in eight samples at the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in Delhi.

Official sources said among the eight people was the woman who left Delhi and travelled to Andhra Pradesh last week by train. The remaining seven are in quarantine at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital (LNJP) in the national capital.

Delhi recorded 677 fresh COVID-19 cases and 21 fatalities on Wednesday, bringing the infection tally in the city to over 6.24 lakh and the death toll to 10,523, authorities said.

Meanwhile, India has crossed a significant milestone in its fight against coronavirus, with the national COVID-19 recovery rate crossing 96 per cent, one of the highest globally, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday. "The total recovered cases have crossed 98.6 lakhs (98,60,280), the highest globally. The gap between active cases and recoveries is continuously increasing and stands at 96,02,624," the ministry highlighted.

Further, the active cases have drastically declined to 2.57 lakh. The total positive cases of the country are 2,57,656 and now comprise merely 2.51 per cent of the total cases. "With a high number of COVID patients recovering every day and the sustained fall in the mortality rate, India's steady trend of registering dipping active cases continues," the ministry said.

A total of 21,822 new confirmed cases were recorded in a span of 24 hours in the country whereas 26,139 new recoveries were registered in the same period.