CM convenes meeting with experts tomorrow

Bengaluru: The number of active COVID-19 cases in Karnataka, which had been consistently declining since September 2021, has breached the 10,000-mark again, for the first time since Oct. 10. Yesterday, the State reported 10 more cases of Omicron variant, taking the State’s Omicron  tally to 76.

The number of patients under treatment had continued to dip from September 2021, touching 8,644 on Oct. 31 and 6,574 on Dec. 1, 2021. By Jan. 1, 2022, however, such cases stood at 9,386, crossing the 9,000 mark for the first time since mid-October 2021 before reaching 10,292 on Jan. 3.

In the wake of all these developments, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has called for a special meeting on Thursday evening with members of his Cabinet as well as a meeting on Tuesday (Jan. 4) with the State Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) on COVID.

The Committee has already recommended to the Government about the need for lockdown and this has been hinted at time and again by Ministers like R. Ashoka and Araga Jnanendra.

“Bengaluru is in the Red Zone according to the list declared by the Union Government. It is important to sound an alert in Bengaluru. We can save people’s lives if we impose more restrictions in Bengaluru and reduce the number of hospitalisations,” Ashoka said.

The Chief Minister is in favour of a semi-lockdown in Bengaluru and border districts including Mysuru, Mangaluru and Belagavi where the influx of people is high from Kerala and Maharashtra where the cases are spiking every day.

Borders may see stricter curbs as even the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) has indicated that a major portion of the infection (virus) carriers are from Maharashtra and Kerala and also from foreign lands.

At present, the Karnataka Government has imposed a night curfew from 10 pm to 5 am from Dec. 28 till Jan. 7 morning.

In all probability, the night curfew will be extended with more curbs to prevent people from moving and congregating at one place.

Speaking to the reporters this morning, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that the two meetings had been convened to decide upon a future course of action on whether the State needed to impose a lockdown or a semi-lockdown without hampering economic activities.

“As of now, I have instructed strict adherence to all COVID-19 protocols…and the guidelines issued till now are in force,” he added.

He said that the Government would be compelled to impose restrictions in districts bordering Kerala and Maharashtra. “People should follow guidelines and avoid creating a situation that may force the Government to impose a lockdown,” he said.