Karnataka extends lockdown in 11 districts till June 21

Bengaluru Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Thursday announced that the lockdown will be extended in 11 districts of the state, excluding Bengaluru, which continues to see a high rate of Covid-19 positivity. The lockdown has been extended by a week in these 11 districts till 6 am on June 21.

“Current restrictions will continue in all 11 districts till June 21, 6 am. In (the) rest of the districts, some of the restrictions have been relaxed,” Yediyurappa said on Thursday after a two-hour long meeting with experts and members of his cabinet.

The 11 districts include Chikmagalur, Shivamogga, Davangere, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Bengaluru Rural, Mandya, Belagavi and Kodagu, the chief minister said on Thursday.

In all other districts including Bengaluru, there will be relaxations, Yediyurappa said.

The Karnataka government has imposed varying levels of restrictions since the beginning of April, which was intensified on 26 April with the growing number of Covid-19 infections.

However, the state has seen a dip in cases over the last few days, prompting the administration to consider relaxing these restrictions which have affected the livelihoods of people and the fledgling economy.

Karnataka recorded 11,042 new Covid-19 infections in a 24 hour period and the positivity rate stood at 6.58%, according to the daily bulletin of the state health department on Thursday. The state government had indicated that it would ease restrictions if the positivity rate comes down to below 5%.

There were 15,721 recoveries which further brought down the active caseload to 210,652, data shows.

However, the fatality rate stood at 1.75% and 194 more people succumbed to the virus taking the toll to 32,485.

Bengaluru accounted for 47 fatalities and recorded 2191 new infections, taking its active caseload to 95423, data shows.

Yediyurappa said that all industries will be allowed to operate with 50% staff but the labour-intensive garment sector will be permitted for only 30% of its strength.

The timings of essential shops have been extended beyond 10 am till 2pm while parks will be open from 5 am to 10 am.

“Street vendors are allowed to carry out their business from 6 am to 2 pm,” Yediyurappa said. There will be only two passengers allowed to travel in autos and taxis and covid curfew will be imposed from 7 pm to 5 am.

“Weekend curfew will be enforced from Friday 7 pm to Monday 5 am,” the chief minister said.