Night Corona Curfew from Apr 10-20 in Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Mysuru, 5 cities

The Karnataka government on Thursday night has announced night #CoronaCurfew from April 10 to 20 from 10 pm to 5 am in the cities of Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mangaluru, Kalaburagi, Bidar, Tumakuru, Udupi and Manipal.

The decision comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a video conference with chief ministers of various states.

Also read: Night curfew in Delhi as Covid cases surge

During the night, when Corona Curfew will be in effect from 10 pm to 5 am daily from April 10-20, only essential services will be allowed and no commercial establishments would be opened.

Announcing Corona Curfew in the state Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said, “I took part in the video conference by the Prime Minister and appraised him about the Covid-19 situation in the state and the measures taken by the state.

“More number of Covid-19 positive cases are reported in Bengaluru and six other districts. Though there is a surge in the number of cases, the fatality rate remains low. The case fatality rate was 0.50 per cent in the state as on April 8.”

Yediyurappa said the Prime Minister stressed upon enhanced testing, advised to focus on micro-containment zones and told states to ensure sufficient ambulance, oxygen supply and ventilators.

“Prime Minister called upon to take a vaccine drive from April 11 to 14 and advised states to take up awareness campaigns about Covid-appropriate behaviour with the help of celebrities and opinion makers in society with special focus on youth,” the Chief Minister said.

“We have already prohibited gatherings for fairs and festivals and other religious and social gatherings; now we will ensure the same is complied with. Action has been initiated to impose penalties on those who do not wear masks and maintain distancing in public places,” he said.

Vaccination drive

Yediyurappa said the state vaccination drive will be taken up from April 11 (Jyotiba Phule’s birthday) till April 14 (Ambedker’s birthday).

The Chief Minister said, “We have taken up vaccination at a large scale. About 6,000 vaccination centres are working daily. Of these, 5,400 are in government facilities and 600 in private facilities. So far, we have vaccinated more than 53 lakh people. We have vaccinated 22.31 per cent of the target population above 45 years of age compared to the national average of 13.94 per cent as on April 5, 2021.”

Also read: Modi urges States to ‘test, track, treat’ to bring Covid positivity rate below 5%

He further said the state has taken utmost care to minimise vaccine wastage. Due to the surge, Karnataka has doubled the number of tests to about 1.20 lakh now. These days, more than 95 per cent of the tests are being conducted using the RT-PCR method.

The state has also ramped up the number of general beds, oxygenated beds and ICUs. “We have more than 42,000 general beds, 30,000 oxygenated beds, 3,000 ICUs and 2,900 beds with ventilators in general hospitals,” Yediyurappa said.

“We sought the prime minister to provide oxygen generators from the PM-CARES fund to decrease the load on oxygen manufacturing. We are taking all possible measures to contain the pandemic and hope to succeed in it with support from the Central Government,” he added. “But co-operation and responsible behaviour of the citizens matters the most. So, I appeal to the people of the State to follow all the guidelines issued by the Government from time to time and help us contain the pandemic.”