CM likely to extend lockdown as Covid surge continues in K’taka

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa is likely to announce an extension of Covid-19 induced lockdown in the coming days, two officials in the know of the development said

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa is likely to announce an extension of Covid-19 induced lockdown in the coming days, two officials in the know of the development said.

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According to them, CM Yediyurappa announcing a financial relief package of ₹1,250 crore for certain sections of people affected economically by the Covid-19 pandemic has been done keeping the extension in mind.

The financial package involves a one-time payment of ₹10,000 to about 20,000 flower growers and 69,000 farmers who produce fruit and vegetables costing the exchequer a total of around ₹81.73 crore. Relief ranging from ₹2,000 to 3,000 will be provided to around 210,000 lakh licensed autorickshaw, taxi, and maxi cab drivers, and around 304,000 people working as barbers, dhobis, porters, ragpickers, potters, goldsmiths, mechanics, and domestic workers.

“The cases in the city are coming down, but discontinuing the lockdown is not a practical decision since all the progress made during the last few days could be undone by reopening. Even experts believe that the lockdown should be extended,” said a senior bureaucrat, who didn’t want to be named.

A minister, who is part of the state Covid task force, said that a decision will be announced a day before the lockdown ends. “The details of the extension are yet to be decided. There is a difference of opinion on whether it should be for a week or two. A decision will be taken soon,” he said.

Meanwhile, one-third of the cases and fatalities since the Covid-19 outbreak in Karnataka, took place in the last two-and-a-half months when the second wave hit the state, reveals official data.

According to the data, 706,449 people got infected, of which 7,980 people lost their lives between March 1 and May 15. However, since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, 21,71,931 contracted Covid, out of which 21,434 lost their lives.

The data shows that 20,206 children up to the age of nine were infected in the second wave, which killed 17 of them, whereas 51,673 teenagers contracted the disease, of which 19 lost their lives.

People in their twenties accounted for 153,174 infections of which 151 lost their lives. According to the data, as many as 467 people in their thirties, 1,037 in their forties, and 1,717 in their fifties died of Covid in the second wave.

People above 60 years of age were the worst hit in the second wave. Out of 93,483 infected, 2,198 sexagenarians lost their lives while 1,584 people among the 28,658 infected persons in their seventies succumbed to the virus.

The mortality rate among people in their 80s and 90s was very high compared to any other age group. Out of 8,165 infected octogenarians, 674 died of Covid, taking the Case Fatality Rate (CFR) to 8.3 per cent. Among those in the 90s, the CFR is 11.9 per cent with 970 infections and 115 deaths.

(With PTI inputs)