Gavin Newsom announces California Covid curfew after coming under fire for restaurant trip

Restrictions will ban overnight non-essential activity outside home

California governor Gavin Newsom announced a  Covid curfew just days after coming under fire for his own indoor restaurant trip.

Mr Newsom issued a mandatory stay-at-home order for most of the state to combat a new surge in coronavirus cases.

It comes after he  was forced to apologise for attending a political adviser’s birthday party at the French Laundry restaurant in a trip that broke the state’s Covid restrictions.

Mr Newsom originally claimed the party was an outdoor event until pictures of the gathering in a private dining room emerged.

Now the order issued by the California Department of Public Health will ban most non-essential activity outside the home between 10pm and 5am in purple tier counties.

The restriction goes into place on Saturday and lasts until December 21 but could be extended past that.

The move comes just days after the state imposed tighter restrictions on businesses in 41 counties most impacted by the pandemic.

“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. We are sounding the alarm,” said Mr Newsom.

Restaurants will still be able to offer takeout food after 10pm and residents can continue to get medical care, pick up prescriptions and carry out other essential tasks.