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Govt plans stringent rules to curb 2nd wave in Bengaluru
Bengaluru The Karnataka government is planning to impose more stringent rules in Bengaluru in a move to contain the surge in Covid-19 cases in India’s IT capital
Bengaluru The Karnataka government is planning to impose more stringent rules in Bengaluru in a move to contain the surge in Covid-19 cases in India’s IT capital.
“Tougher and stringent measures are necessary in Bengaluru to control the second wave. It will be decided after an all-party meeting tomorrow. The chief minister will take the decision after a detailed discussion with leaders,” health & family welfare and medical education minister K Sudhakar said on Sunday.
The minister’s statements come on a day Karnataka inched towards 20,000 Covid caseload mark, with Bengaluru accounting for 12,793 new infections.
The state recorded its highest-ever single-day spike with 19,067 new cases being recorded in 24 hours that takes its total active case count to 133,543, of which 97,897 are in Bengaluru, according to the daily health bulletin of the state health department. Positivity rate breached the 13% mark.
Bengaluru accounted for 60 out of the 81 fatalities reported across the state.
Amid the spike in cases, India’s IT capital faces issues, such as shortage of vaccine and critical drugs like Remdesivir, near-full occupancy rates in hospitals and limited curbs that have added to the spread of the virus.
Sudhakar said legal action will be initiated against private hospitals that do not reserve half of their beds for Covid patients. “Manipal Hospital has not provided 50% beds. Strict instructions have been given to the hospital. Legal action will be initiated if they fail to obey the orders. Let us not land in such a situation,” he said.
Chief minister BS Yediyurappa, who has tested positive for Covid-19, is being treated at Manipal Hospital.
The situation in Bengaluru has deteriorated in the past few weeks, with most hospital beds in public and private medical establishments reporting nearly full occupancy.
There are 6,117 beds allocated for Covid-19 across private and public medical facilities in Bengaluru, of which 4,492 are occupied.
There are only 29 beds left in intensive care units (ICU) and those with ventilators across all public and private hospitals and medical colleges, according to real-time bed availability data of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). There are 620 persons admitted in ICUs across the state.
“There are seven medical oxygen production plants in Karnataka with a daily production capacity of 812 tonnes; the medical oxygen utilised on Saturday was 272.61 tonnes. So I appeal to everyone to not create unnecessary panic about shortage of medical oxygen in the state,” the minister tweeted.
He said zonal officers have been deployed to manage any shortage.
According to the health department bulletin, 11 districts reported over 100 cases, four over 200, two districts over 300 cases and another two over 400. Kalaburagi reported 671 new infections and Mysuru 777.
Revenue minister R Ashok said the government will come up with a special set of guidelines for Bengaluru, but has ruled out a lockdown. Senior ministers are scheduled to meet on Monday to take a final decision on proposed guidelines aimed to contain the Covid surge in the city and the state.
