The Karnataka government on Wednesday declared a six-hour night curfew from December 24 to the morning of January 2, covering Christmas and New Year, during which no gatherings would be allowed anywhere in the state.

Chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa said the curfew would be in place from 11pm to 5am as a precautionary measure against the new strain of Covid-19 reported in Britain.

“We took the decision after consulting the Union government and the technical advisory committee (of the state health ministry) considering the new strain of Covid-19,” Yediyurappa said.

The decision comes a day after two passengers who arrived from Britain tested positive for Covid-19. Their blood samples are being tested for the new strain of the virus.

The guidelines to implement the curfew allows midnight mass on Christmas. But the Bangalore Archbishop’s office had already issued a circular to hold the mass at 7pm.

While no commercial establishments, restaurants and pubs would be allowed beyond the embargo, buses, trucks, airport taxis and autorickshaws from railway stations would be permitted to ply.

All industries that require to operate at night would be allowed to do so with 50 per cent of the staff strength. Movement of their employees would be allowed during the curfew period on producing company identity cards.

The government tweaked the timings from the originally announced 10pm to 6am after several ruling BJP lawmakers suggested the relaxation in view of demand from commercial establishments.

Health minister K. Sudhakar urged everyone to be home by 11pm. “We have already said this is not the time to celebrate New Year’s Eve.”

“Don’t create issues…. It’s just nine days,” he added.

Sudhakar said 2,500 passengers had arrived from Britain between November 25, the cut-off date for them to be screened, and December 23, when the flight ban from the UK kicked in. “We have found that 138 of them came without a Covid-free certificate. Their samples have been sent for testing,” he said.

While the government had earlier on December 4 rejected a health department proposal for a night curfew, it had clarified that only street celebrations on New Year’s Eve would be scrapped.

The sudden announcement didn’t take the Church by surprise. “In our monthly bulletin issued a few weeks ago we had already instructed all churches to hold the Christmas mass at 7pm,” the spokesperson of the Bangalore archbishop, J.A. Kanthraj, told The Telegraph.

“Being responsible citizens, we didn’t want to endanger anyone by holding late-night masses or encouraging any kind of gathering although it is Christmas season. That was why we took this unilateral decision even before the government declared the night curfew,” he added.

But restaurateurs and pub owners were aghast at the decision announced without any forewarning.

The president of the Bangalore chapter of the National Restaurants Association of India, Manu Chandra, said: “We fully understand that the government has taken this decision in the larger public interest. But we should have been given a few days’ time.”