Schools to reopen in K’taka dists with less than 2% TPR

The state government had earlier decided to reopen schools for Classes 9 to 12 from August 23. The government has also announced that the decision to reopen schools for students up to Class 8 will be taken in the last week of August after looking in all aspects of a third wave.

Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday announced that schools will be reopened in districts with Covid test positivity rate of less than 2%. Schools in border districts recording an increase in cases will remain shut.

The state is recording 1,500 plus Covid cases on an average and so far 15,919 deaths have occurred due to the virus. (ANI)

“All parents, teachers and non-teaching staff should be vaccinated. In case the positivity rate goes beyond 2% in any districts after schools are reopened, they should be closed and reopened after a week looking at the situation,” Bommai told reporters after holding an emergency meeting with health experts and the cabinet.

He said a standard operating procedure (SOP) for reopening schools is ready and it will be released at the earliest. The state government had earlier decided to reopen schools for Classes 9 to 12 from August 23. The government has also announced that the decision to reopen schools for students up to Class 8 will be taken in the last week of August after looking in all aspects of a third wave.

The government has decided to decentralise the fight against Covid-19. “Directions have been given to make district-specific Covid-19 plans,” Bommai said.

He said the BBMP commissioner has been given the power to impose strict measures in the city if the positivity rate in Bengaluru city goes beyond 2% and bed occupations reach 40%. “At present, the positivity rate is around 0.75%. The authority to implement the required steps is now with the BBMP commissioner,” said Bommai.

“The situation is different in each district. In some districts the positivity rate is high, while in some other districts death rate is high. In Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Hassan, Mysuru, Kodagu, Bengaluru rural, Chamarajanagara, Shivamoga and Chikkamagaluru, which are border districts, we have identified places where testing and vaccination have to be increased,” Bommai said.

In a new policy, the government has decided that in areas and villages within 10 km of Kerala and Maharashtra border, complete testing has to be done.

The government has identified Raichur, Kalburgi, Ballari, Bidar, Koppal, Haveri, Vijayapura, Tumkur, Chikkamagaluru and Bengaluru rural as districts with poor testing rates. “Instructions have been given to increase the testing in the coming days,” Bommai said.

The chief minister said that the six genome testing labs will be opened within the next three weeks. These labs will be spread across the state. “The labs will be set up in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Shimoga, Hubli, Kalburgi and Belagavi. The new delta variant has to be studied carefully and we need to keep track of any new variants. So, these labs are important. The tests take two to three weeks, so we want to have more centres,” he said.

The chief minister said that the state has administered close to 40 million vaccinations. “I will be meeting the union health minister and asking for 10 million vaccinations so that the entire population can be vaccinated,” he said.

The state is recording 1,500 plus Covid cases on an average and so far 15,919 deaths have occurred due to the virus.

The state reported 1,632 new cases on Saturday, taking the active caseload to 22,698. Bengaluru accounted for 377 new infections, taking its active cases to 8,200. As many as 25 fatalities were reported across the state on Saturday, which took the state’s toll to 36,958. Bengaluru’s toll due to Covid-19 jumped to 15,934, with 1 death being reported on Saturday, according to the state health department.

Dakshina Kannada district, which borders Kerala, reported 411 new cases, which is the highest reported in the state. All other districts recorded less than 200 new cases.