The Maharashtra government on Monday put in place stricter measures amidst the huge global scare over a new strain of Covid-19 virus detected in the United Kingdom.

The state government has announced night curfew between 11 pm and 6 am in the state in all municipal corporations for 15 days from December 22, 2020, to January 5, 2021.

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Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday chaired a meeting to review the implementation of the preventive measures to mitigate the spread of coronavirus.

All passengers coming from Europe and the Middle East will have to mandatorily undergo 15 days institutional quarantine. Passengers coming from other international destinations other than Europe and the Middle East will have to undergo home quarantine, said a source of the Maharashtra Government.

Additionally, from December 21, the state has made 14 days’ institutional quarantine compulsory for all travellers from the UK, Europe and the Middle East, as a precaution.

Maharashtra government has also made 14 days quarantine mandatory to all who are travelling from Europe and all Middle East countries.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray announced the move to impose the curfew from Tuesday night after conducting detailed deliberations with top officials of various departments here, said an official.

“We have to be extremely vigilant for the next 15 days. Accordingly, the curfew in all municipal areas shall be in force from 11 pm-6 am daily till January 5,” Thackeray said.

Among the officials present at the meeting were Chief Secretary Sanjay Kumar, Principal Advisor to CM Ajoy Mehta, Additional Chief Secretary Finance Manoj Sounik, Additional Chief Secretary to CM Ashish Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary Vikas Kharge, BMC Municipal Commissioner I. S. Chahal, Mumbai Police Commissioner Parambir Singh, Principal Secretary of Health Dr. Pradeep Vyas, Medical Education Secretary Sourav Vijay, State Task Force President Dr. Sanjay Oak and Members Dr. Shashank Joshi, Dr. Avinash Supe, Dr. Rahul Pandit, CM’s Pune Division Advisor Deepak Mhaisekar etc.

The Indian government has decided to halt flights to and from the UK from tomorrow midnight till December 31 amid the increasing spread of a new strain of coronavirus from the United Kingdom.

“Considering the prevailing situation in the UK, Indian govt has decided that all flights originating from the UK to India shall be temporarily suspended till 11:59 pm, 31st December. This suspension to start w.e.f. 11.59 pm, 22nd December,” the Ministry of Civil Aviation said.

“As a measure of abundant precaution, passengers arriving from the UK in all transit flights (flights that have taken off or flights which are reaching India before 22nd Dec at 11.59 pm) should be subject to mandatory RT-PCR test on arrival at airports,” it added.

(With IANS inputs)