Which States Have Eased COVID-19 Restrictions, Lifted Night Curfew?

Centre asks states and UTs to review and amend the additional COVID-19 restrictions that were imposed after a sudden surge in infections.

(Photo: Aroop Mishra/The Quint)

With daily COVID-19 cases declining in the country, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Wednesday, 16 February, wrote to all states/Union territories (UTs), asking them to review, and amend or end additional COVID-19 restrictions.

Following which, several states have either eased the curbs or completely removed them.

Which states have eased the restrictions? Which states have lifted the night curfew? Here’s all you need to know.

Which states have lifted the night curfew?

The states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya, Assam, and Karnataka have completely lifted the night curfew.

Meanwhile, Bengal and Odisha have reduced the timings of the night curfew in their states.

In Gujarat, night curfew (12 am-5 am) will be enforced in only Ahmedabad and Vadodara from 18 February to 25 February.

Which states have eased all restrictions?

The Assam government has withdrawn all COVID-19 restrictions. Taking to Twitter, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced the withdrawal of mandatory COVID-19 testing facilities from all airports, railway stations, and hospitals in the state.

The Bihar government has also scrapped all COVID-related restrictions. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday appealed to people to follow COVID-safe behaviour. Local administrations have, however, been empowered to impose curbs, if required.

Sikkim, Telangana, and Haryana have also removed all COVID-19 restrictions.

Though Maharashtra, West Bengal, Rajasthan, and Himachal Pradesh have relaxed COVID curbs, they are yet to remove all restrictions.

Meanwhile, India on Thursday, 17 February, reported a minor rise of 30,757 new COVID-19 cases and 541 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the active caseload in the country to 3,32,918.

The daily positivity rate stood at 2.61 percent, with a total of 174.24 crore COVID vaccine doses having been administered so far.