Amid the spike in cases of coronavirus, the Karnataka government has decided to impose a week-long lockdown in Bengaluru, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said.
The lockdown will be imposed in urban and rural Bengaluru from 8 pm on July 14 to 5 am on July 22, he told.
“As Covid-19 cases are increasing in the state day by day, based on the advice of experts complete lockdown will be imposed in Bengaluru urban and Bengaluru rural for one week from July 14 Tuesday 8 pm to 5 am on July 22,” Yediyurappa said in a statement.
The city has been experimenting with the lockdowns during the weekends earlier as well but there has been no respite in the growing number of cases in the state.
Currently, a meeting between the Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa with Revenue Minister R Ashoka, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palika (BBMP) Commissioner Anil Kumar and other officials is underway in view of the Covid situation in the state.
During the lockdown period, only essential services like hospitals, medical stores, grocery shops, fruits and milk centres will be allowed to operate.
As per the Ministry of Health data, there are 36,216 cases of coronavirus reported in Karnataka which has just crossed the Uttar Pradesh’s tally.
As reported by Indian Express, the daily growth rate of cases in Karnataka is now 7.7 per cent, well ahead of second-placed Andhra Pradesh, which too has been adding a large number of new cases in the last three days.
The report further suggested that close to 200 deaths have been reported in just the last four days. On Saturday, the state reported 70 deaths. Only Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have been reporting a comparable number of deaths every day.