Thursday April 23, 2020
MOGADISHU (HOL) - Somalia has extended curfew hours in the capital Mogadishu amid a fast spread of COVID-19 disease and the onset of the Ramadan.
Police Commissioner Abdi Hassan Mohamed said the curfew time will now run between 7pm-5am which is an increase of an hour from the previous 8pm-5am.
“We have decided that starting from the first night of Ramadan the curfew time will be increased by one hour. The new curfew will now start one hour early, at 7:00pm,” said Mohamed. Ramadan starts on Friday.
The police boss also ordered restaurants to offer take-away services only until 7pm. An 8pm-5am curfew came into effect in Mogadishu April 15 adding to a raft of other measures put in place by the Federal Government to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Somalia has since recorded 286 cases of COVID-19 and 13 deaths since the first case on March 16.
There has been an average of 50 cases daily in the last one week raising concerns of a fast spread of the disease.
Learning institutions remain closed in addition to local and international flights which were grounded indefinitely late March.