The Karnataka government will impose a night curfew for ten days starting from December 28 to control the spread of Covid-19, state Health Minister K Sudhakar said, according to PTI.

The night curfew, which will be imposed under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, will will be in place from 10 pm to 5 am.

Sudhakar made the statement after a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, where state ministers, officials and members of the Covid-19 technical advisory committee were also present.

The state health minister also announced some restrictions on gatherings for New Year celebrations. “There will be no functions, parties in the external premises, especially for those celebrating with DJs and large gatherings, they have been completely banned in Karnataka,” he said.

Sudhakar added that pubs, restaurants and other eateries will be allowed to operate with only 50% capacity on December 31.

He noted that members of the technical advisory committee recommended that the government must be prepared for all situations, The Indian Express reported. “We presently have 4,000 Intensive Care Unit beds but would add another 3,051 ICU beds soon,” he said. “Ten days after imposing the curfew, the situation will be monitored again.”

On Saturday, Karnataka reported 270 new Covid-19 cases and four deaths, according to the newspaper. The state has 7,271 active coronavirus cases, of which 5,890 infections are in Bengaluru Urban alone.

The state has 31 patients who have been infected with the Omicron variant of Covid-19, and 15 people have recovered after having been infected with the strain, according to the Union government’s update on Sunday morning.