Houston, Oct 27 (IANS): Authorities have imposed a curfew in El Paso, a city in Texas state that borders Mexico, due to an overwhelming spike in the number of new coronavirus cases.

On Sunday night, El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego issued an order urging residents to stay home for two weeks and ordered the implementation of the 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Our hospitals are now at a point where they are overwhelmed and exhausted, and I am left with no choice but to take this next step in hopes of seeing some stability in our community and most importantly to save lives," Samaniego was quoted by local media as saying.

The number of new infections in the city was increasing unabated.

On Monday, it reported a record high of 1,443 new cases in 24 hours.

The number of hospitalized Covid-19 patients stood at 853 as of Monday morning, with 180 in intensive care units and 99 on ventilators, according to official figures.

As of Monday, Texas has reported a total of 867,075 Covid-19 cases and 17,514 deaths.