E-Paper
Karnataka CM rules out extending lockdown in Bengaluru as Covid-19 cases spiral
On Friday, Karnataka recorded 3,693 new Covid-19 cases taking the tally to 55,115 including 20,757 discharges and 115 deaths.
With Covid-19 cases in Bengaluru continuing to spiral - despite the state government imposing a week-long lockdown which began on July 14 - several leaders including BBMP Mayor Goutham Kumar of BJP and Congress working president Eshwar Khandre have sought an extension of the lockdown. Both of them said that the lockdown should be extended at least for two weeks to contain the current rapid spread of the virus.
On Friday, Karnataka recorded 3,693 new Covid-19 cases taking the tally to 55,115 including 20,757 discharges and 115 deaths. Bengaluru recorded yet another day of more than two thousand cases in a single day taking the total active cases in the city to 20,623. The number of active cases in the capital city is nearly two-thirds of the total number of active cases in the state.
Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao also earlier in the day had tweeted that he would undergo home quarantine for a period of four days before undergoing his fifth Covid-19 test in the last three months after his driver tested positive for the virus.
However, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa who met ministers-in-charge of the eight zones of Bengaluru regarding Covid-19 management immediately ruled out an extension of the lockdown in the capital. “That (lockdown) is not a solution to contain Covid-19 and there is no such proposal to extend lockdown in the city,” he clarified.
At the meeting with cabinet colleagues and officials, the CM directed them to remove all obstacles in the admission of infected people to hospitals. He also directed them to ensure the availability of treatment to Covid-19 as well as non- Covid-19 patients in private hospitals according to government guidelines.
Meanwhile, JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy said that the government should immediately step in and address the demands of around 2000 contract Ayush doctors who have threatened to resign if their demands are not met. The Ayush doctors who are working on contract say that they are being paid Rs 20,000 a month against allopathic doctors who are being paid Rs 60,000 a month. The government has said that it is looking into their demands.
