Karnataka Lockdown Latest News Today: CM BS Bommai will chair another meeting on Friday where a decision regarding weekend and night curfew may be taken.
Bengaluru: Despite a surge in coronavirus cases, the Karnataka government is not planning to impose lockdown in the state, Revenue Minister R Ashoka said. Speaking to reporters after a Covid review meeting, the minister quoted experts and asserted that cases may decline in Karnataka in the upcoming days. Furthermore, he added that CM BS Bommai will chair another meeting on Friday where a decision regarding weekend and night curfew may be taken.
For the unversed, the Karnataka government earlier this month reimposed weekend curfew across the state. As per the guidelines, a weekend curfew remains in force from Friday 10 pm to Monday 5 am.
“Experts have compared the trends in Delhi and Maharashtra, where the number of cases has been declining in recent days. According to their calculation, Karnataka may see cases peaking in the last week of January. Thereafter, the cases are expected to decline”, The Indian Express quoted R Ashoka as saying.
COVID cases Shoot up Nearly 10 Times in 15 Districts
While Bengaluru is witnessing a decreasing trend in new COVID cases, infection is rapidly spreading to other districts of Karnataka as lakhs of people from the state capital have returned to their villages fearing lockdown. The district places are recording 20 to 30 times more infection rate. The infection is spreading faster in four districts of south Karnataka and 15 districts of north Karnataka which were registering cases in single digits have started recording 10 times more.
Several north Karnataka districts that were recording zero cases or cases in single digits just before two weeks have seen a sudden spurt since last week. This has caused fears of spreading of infection in rural areas where health infrastructure is not up to the mark and awareness among people is also very less. Between January 8 to 15, the state has recorded as many as 1.45 lakh new Covid cases. Among these, Bengaluru alone has recorded more than one lakh cases. In Bengaluru, when compared to last week the infection has risen 10 times. However, it has increased by 39 times in Raichur district, Haveri district has recorded an increase of 31 times.
Raichur recorded zero cases even as the third wave was reaching its peak in Bengaluru and other districts. Last week, the district recorded 14 cases and this week it has reached 555. In Haveri also the number of cases have reached 95 this week. Last week there were only three. The cases have increased by 29 times in Koppal, 23 times in Chamarajanagar and 16 times in Tumakuru districts. Chitradurga has recorded 15 times and Yadgir 14 times. Davanagere, Chikkaballapura and Uttara Kannada (13 times), Ramanagar, Dharawad, Bidar and Hassan districts are recording 10 times more Covid cases than they recorded a week ago.
COVID to Hit Peak by Jan 24 in Karnataka
According to the experts, the pandemic will reach its peak by January 24 and later, the cases would see downward trends. The government also hinted that it would take decision accordingly. However, the health department is worried that by that time, rural Karnataka might put up a serious situation.
COVID-19 cases in Karnataka
Karnataka has logged 27,156 new Covid cases on Monday, after the second-weekend curfew. Also, 14 Covid deaths were reported in the last 24 hours. Officials said that total active cases in the state stood at 2,17,297. The positivity for the day stood at 12.45 per cent.
As a result of the weekend curfew, the cases came down to 15,947 in Bengaluru Urban district. The total positive cases in the city stood at 14,32,754. A total of 4,888 people have been discharged from hospital while five deaths were reported in Bengaluru, taking the total Covid deaths to 16,458. The Omicron cases jumped to 766 and 2,956 Delta cases reported so far in the state.
