A day after Karnataka announced a night curfew from December 24 to January 2, the state government withdrew the order. On Thursday, the state said it decided to rescind the orders “after receiving feedback from the public that a night curfew is not needed”, reported The News Minute.

“The public should prevent the spread of the virus by self-imposing regulations, wearing masks, maintaining distance, avoiding unnecessary travel and maintaining strict adherence to government-imposed COVID-19 control rules,” the statement said.

Restrictions on movement in the night will continue to be in place, however.

The decision came after a series of U-turns. On Tuesday, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had said a night curfew was not needed, and had then announced one a day later on Wednesday.

The move to impose a night curfew was to curb the spread of a new strain of Covid-19 that has been detected in the United Kingdom and a few other countries abroad.

The new variant of the coronavirus, called the VUI–202012/01, was first detected in the UK last week and is found to be 70% more transmissible. Nearly a third of England’s population entered a lockdown four days before Christmas, as authorities tried to rein in the pandemic. The new variant of the virus has spread rapidly in London and South East England.

The Centre on Tuesday said that that the strain has not been seen in India so far and that it has no impact on the potential of emerging vaccines.