Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Wednesday wrote to all states and Union Territories, asking them to keep a strict vigil to curb “super spreader” events in the wake of New Year celebrations.

Bhushan urged the states to impose “appropriate restrictions” on December 30, 31 and January 1, after assessing the local situation. The health ministry informed about the letter in a release, which also mentioned the extension of suspension of flights from the United Kingdom till January 7. The letter, however, said that there will be no restriction on inter-state and intra-state movement of people and goods.

On Monday, the Centre extended its existing guidelines for restrictions for surveillance and containment of the coronavirus till January 31.

India’s coronavirus tally rose to 1,02,44,852 on Wednesday after 20,549 new cases emerged in the last 24 hours. The country’s toll went up by 286 to 1,48,439. The number of daily cases have reduced significantly recently. On Tuesday, the country reported 16,432 new infections, the lowest single-day rise in over six months.

However, the new strain of the virus that emerged in the United Kingdom has caused considerable alarm across the world. On Wednesday, India reported 14 more cases of the mutant strain of the coronavirus, taking the infection tally from the new variant in the country to 20.

Follow today’s coronavirus updates