The Karnataka government had initially announced 14 days ‘close down’ from April 27, but subsequently imposed a complete lockdown from May 10 to May 24, as the COVID cases continued to increase across the state.
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Friday said he is holding discussions with officials and ministers on extending the lockdown as the state battles the second wave of COVID-19.
The state is currently under complete lockdown till May 24. “We will sit and discuss tomorrow, tonight also I am meeting Ministers, we will take a decision soon,” Yediyurappa told reporters responding to a question on extending the lockdown.
Yediyurappa also said that he is worried that Covid cases in rural areas are on the rise. “We are worried that the cases are increasing in rural areas in the state and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also conducted meetings with district commissioners two times and given various instructions to contain the spread of covid-19 in rural areas.”
Meanwhile, State Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar, while responding to a similar question about extending the lockdown, said, “Several ministers in the cabinet are of the same opinion to continue the lockdown, the Chief Minister is also of the same mindset, and a final decision will be taken by May 22 or 23.”
The Karnataka government had initially announced 14 days ‘close down’ from April 27, but subsequently imposed a complete lockdown from May 10 to May 24, as the COVID cases continued to increase across the state.
Meanwhile, the daily Covid-19 cases in Karnataka is witnessing a decline as the state registered 28,869 new infections, which was outnumbered by recoveries with 52,257 discharges. However the number of fatalities continued to remain high at 548, the health department said on Thursday. While the total caseload was 23.35 lakh, the toll stood at 23,854.
Out of the 28,869 new cases reported on Thursday, 9,409 were from Bengaluru Urban alone, and the city saw 25,776 discharges.
As of May 20 evening, cumulatively 23,35,524 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 23,854 deaths and 17,76,695 discharges, the department said in its bulletin. The total number of active cases in the state stood at 5,34,954. While the positivity rate for the day stood at 23.91 per cent, the case fatality rate (CFR) was at 1.89 per cent.
