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Govt imposes curbs on political, religious events
Bengaluru As the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases continue to surge in Karnataka, the state government on Wednesday said it has directed all district authorities to restrict all political and religious events for a month
Bengaluru
As the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases continue to surge in Karnataka, the state government on Wednesday said it has directed all district authorities to restrict all political and religious events for a month.
“We have to take strict action now as it would be difficult to contain the surge if there are slips now,” K Sudhakar, Karnataka’s health minister, said on Wednesday.
Karnataka reported 2,298 new Covid- 19 cases in 24 hours on Tuesday, taking the total number of active cases to 16,886. The state also reported 12 fatalities taking the to to 12461, according to the state health department’s daily bulletin. Bengaluru continued to account for the majority of new cases as it reported 1,398 cases on Tuesday, taking the total active caseload to 11,520. Bengaluru reported seven fatalities on Tuesday, taking its toll to 4,563. Kalaburagi recorded 118 new cases, while Tumakuru, Udupi, Bidar and Mysuru reported 94, 79, 82 and 74 new cases, respectively, on Tuesday.
Sudhakar said the state will observe decisions taken by other states on mandatory RT-PCR tests for all persons coming from other states. “We will see how things turn up in other states and then decide,” he said.
However, the government remains steadfast in not announcing a lockdown—partial or otherwise.
According to experts, the knowledge of Covid-19, ongoing vaccination drive and economic considerations have weighed on the decisions of chief minister B.S Yediyurappa-led state government.
“The economic impact is one of the major considerations of the government,” Dr V Ravi, senior professor and head of the department of Neurovirology at NIMHANS, said. Dr Ravi is also part of the technical advisory committee (TAC) on Covid-19 in Karnataka.
Stating that last year was the state and country’s first experience on the virus, Dr Ravi added that there is better knowledge on the subject and that Karnataka was better prepared to deal with the surge. He said hospitals were better equipped and that there were enough beds with oxygen and other requirements to treat Covid-19 patients.
Though Karnataka had proactively begun its treatment, testing, tracing and isolation efforts last year, it has fallen back on tracing and testing in the last few months, experts said.
The government is now willing to deploy any or all measures like isolation, testing persons coming from other states and improving contact tracing, while shrugging off any suggestion to go in for a lockdown, experts said.
With revenue channels from the Centre drying up, Karnataka is relying on taxes like excise and home registrations among other avenues to bring in some funds into the cash-starved and calamity-prone state.
Despite losing out on two months of sales, the excise department of the state has managed to fulfill its 2020-21 target of Rs22,700 crore on Wednesday, with almost a week left to go in the financial year.
An official of the excise department said the increase of taxes twice last year by 17-25% helped bring in some revenue to the state exchequer.
“(I) don’t think there is anything alarming at this stage,” the official said.
With a sharp surge in cases, Yediyurappa-led government has fallen back on intensifying the vaccination drive to contain the spike.
Till 7.30 pm on Tuesday, Karnataka has vaccinated (first and second dose) over 28.11 lakh people.
However, the government has turned a blind eye on political events and other public functions where large numbers of people gather with no safety protocols like wearing masks or maintaining social distancing, experts said.
The government has intensified scrutinising weddings, late night parties and other events.
Chief minister B.S Yediyurappa has specified that restrictions will be imposed on people gatherings indoors and not outdoors. This distinction will help the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other political parties to campaign for the upcoming bypolls (on April 17) and conduct meetings, analysts said.
Industrialists and people in the hospitality business, meanwhile, feared that any possibility of another lockdown would cripple the economy further.
“We have written a letter to Dr Harsh Vardhan (Union health minister) and the BBMP commissioner to increase vaccination and not take any harsh decisions,” PC Rao, president of the Bengaluru Hotels Association, said.
He added that there was no financial help from the government during the last lockdown and another set of restrictions would cripple a sector that was just getting back on its feet.
“Our business got no support from the government. We had to bear the burden of government decisions and we may just not be able to bear another lockdown,” said a member of the state wine merchants association, requesting not to be named.
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