California’s governor imposes 10pm curfew across the state as coronavirus cases surge

Many businesses in California will be forced to shut

Credit: BLOOMBERG

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California’s governor on Thursday ordered a curfew placed on all indoor social gatherings and non-essential activities outside the home across most of the state in a major escalation of measures to curb an alarming surge in coronavirus infections.

The limited stay-at-home restrictions will go into effect from 10pm until 5am each day, starting on Saturday night and ending on December 21, covering 41 counties representing over 94 per cent of the state’s population

"The virus is spreading at a pace we haven’t seen since the start of this pandemic, and the next several days and weeks will be critical to stop the surge," Governor Gavin Newsom said.

He said the restriction is essentially the same as California’s first-in-the-nation statewide stay-at-home order that was imposed in March, except it applies only during the designated curfew hours rather than around the clock.

Mr Newsom’s order came as state and local government leaders nationwide were moving to reimpose restrictions on social and economic life, seeking to tamp down soaring rates of Covid-19 infections and hospitalisations heading into winter following a summertime lull in the pandemic.

Read more: Biden rules out national lockdown

Californians will not be allowed out beyond 10pm under the new measures

Credit: AP

Health experts say greater social mixing and indoor gatherings during the holiday season, combined with colder weather, will likely accelerate the surge, threatening to overwhelm already strained healthcare systems.

Mr Newsom, a first-term Democrat, warned that "more stringent actions" may be necessary if the latest efforts to blunt the contagion fall short.

Republican state assemblyman James Gallagher sharply criticised the governor’s action, saying: "An arbitrary curfew will only further decimate struggling businesses that already face some of the toughest hurdles in the country."

The new curfew in California, the most populous US state with some 40 million residents, came a day after New York City’s public school system, the nation’s largest, called a halt to in-classroom instruction due to rising infection rates there.

Coronavirus USA Spotlight Chart — cases default

Government officials in at least 22 states, representing both sides of the US political divide, have issued sweeping new public health mandates this month. Those range from stricter limits on social gatherings and non-essential businesses to new requirements for wearing masks in public places.

The number of patients hospitalised with Covid-19 in the United States has jumped nearly 50 per cent in the past two weeks, with almost 79,000 people being treated for the disease in hospitals across the country as of Thursday, the most at any time during the pandemic.

The US death toll from Covid-19 surpassed a grim new milestone of 250,000 lives lost on Wednesday, and public health experts have projected that the number could climb well above 400,000 by March.