Covid-19: Karnataka to continue lockdown in 10 districts with high cases

Karnataka to continue lockdown restrictions in 10 districts having high Covid-19 cases from June 14 to 21.

During the extended lockdown, shops selling essential goods can open from 6 am to 2 pm and street vendors to trade from 6 am to 2 pm.

The Covid night curfew is imposed and will be in effect from 7 pm to 5 am. Along with this, a weekly curfew has been imposed from 7 pm Friday to 5 am Monday.

The state government is expected to unlock economic activities in a phased manner in the rest of the districts with low Covid cases. But there will be no change to the existing guidelines in 10 affected districts : Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga, Davanagere, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Bengaluru Urban, Mandya, Belagavi and Kodagu districts.

“The Deputy Commissioners of the district have been empowered to take tougher measures in consultation with the district in-charge ministers,” Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa told reporters.

“At today's meeting which lasted two hours, for the lockdown it has been decided to make few modifications / relaxations to the existing lockdown restrictions as advised by the Technical Advisory Committee for the prevention of Covid infection,” he added.

Activities allowed

All the factories have been allowed to function with 50 per cent attendance with staff adhering to Covid appropriate behaviour. However, the garment industries have been allowed with 30 per cent attendance.

All construction activities have been allowed. Shops dealing with cement and steel have been permitted to open.

Parks in civic corporation limits are to be open from 5 am to 10 am. To facilitate smooth movement of people, autos and taxis are allowed with two passengers only.

Earlier in the day, the state government permitted eight districts with high Covid-19 cases to extend lockdown by a week and instructed deputy commissioners (DCs) to bring down the positivity rate to less than 5 per cent.

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, who held a video conference on Thursday with DCs of eight districts having high Covid-19 cases, said he had permitted DCs to take appropriate decisions based on local conditions.

He also advised the district in-charge ministers and DCs to continue the restrictions barring few activities.

The districts having high Covid-19 cases are Belagavi, Chickmagalur, Dakshina Kannada, Hassan, Mysuru, Mandya, Shivamogga and Tumkur.

Out of the total cases in the State, around 65,000 active cases are from these eight districts. “The rate of decrease in the cases are least in these districts. Hence we have given DCs to take appropriate decisions,” said Yediyurappa.

The Chief Minister further instructed the officers to bring down the positivity rate to less than 5 per cent, and also the intensity of the cases should come down by initiating stringent measures during the lockdown.

“But the cases are not decreasing in Mysuru, Hassan, Tumakuru, Shivamogga, Dakshina Kannada, Mandya, Belagavi and Chickmagaluru districts as expected,” he said.

The chief minister expressed his anxiety over the increase in Covid-19 cases in rural areas and instructed DCs to strictly ensure preventive measures for containment of infections. Guidelines have to be followed in micro containment zones.

Yediyurappa instructed the DCs to ensure and manage that the positivity rate is within 5 per cent. As per the guidelines of the government, 70 per cent of tests should be RT-PCR and 30 per cent rapid antigen test.

“RTPCR reports must be given within 24 hours of the test and swift segregation must be done based on the condition of the patients,” he said.

The chief minister directed DCs to intensify the vaccine drive in all districts, especially in the Belagavi district.

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