Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa, on Thursday, said that a night curfew – ‘corona curfew‘ – will be imposed in Bengaluru and seven other cities starting April 10. The curfew that will be practiced from 10 pm to 5 am will be in place till April 20. The other seven cities are: Mysuru, Mangaluru, Kalaburagi, Bidar, Tumkuru, Udupi and Manipal.

The Karnataka CM, however, said that essential services will be exempted from the curfew.

This decision comes in the wake of the ever-rising COVID-19 cases pan India. Before this, Noida, Ghaziabad, Odisha and other places saw the night curfew being imposed to curb the spread of the virus.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday, held a meeting with the CMs of the state and said that the war against COVID-19 has to be taken up again as state administrations and the populace are becoming complacent and relaxed.

He said that people are not paying heed to the COVID protocols due to the vaccines and urged the state to put in place a stricter curfew.

The curfew comes as India registered a record single-day spike of 126,789 new COVID-19 cases, pushing its infection tally to 1,29,28,574.

The death toll due to the disease in the country increased to 166,862, with 685 new fatalities being reported in a day.

Registering a steady increase for the 29th day in row, the count of active cases has gone up to 9,10,319, which is 7.04% of the total infections, while the country’s recovery rate has dropped to 91.67%, the data showed.