Pune city on Sunday extended its night curfew till March 14 amid a rise in coronavirus cases, ANI reported. Schools, colleges and coaching centres will also remain closed till then.

Pune Mayor Murlidhar Mohol said that no public movement will be allowed in the city from 11 pm to 6 am, except for essential services. The city has been registering up to 1,000 cases a day since Wednesday, NDTV reported.

The administration has also decided to restart flu clinics in the city to identify and isolate coronavirus patients, The Indian Express reported, quoting the mayor.

Overall, Maharashtra has been witnessing a sharp increase in coronavirus in recent days. The state reported 8,623 new cases on Saturday, taking the overall count to 21,46,777. This was the fourth day in a row that the state recorded over 8,000 cases. Meanwhile, Amravati district extended its lockdown for another week till March 8.

Also read: Coronavirus: Lockdown extended in Maharashtra’s Amravati till March 8

Besides Maharashtra, the states of Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat have also been reporting a rise in coronavirus cases. On Saturday, Gujarat extended the night curfew in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot by 15 days.

The Centre directed states having a surge in coronavirus cases to firmly deal with violation of coronavirus-related safety protocols. Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Saturday held a review meeting with the chief secretaries of Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Telangana and Jammu & Kashmir to discuss the health crisis.

India on Sunday registered 16,752 new coronavirus cases, taking the overall count to 1,10,96,731. The country’s toll rose to 1,57,051 after 113 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours. The number of active cases rose to 1,64,511, while the recoveries reached 1,07,75,169.

India began vaccinating frontline workers on January 16 and is set to start inoculating senior citizens, as well as those aged 45 and above with comorbidities from March 1.