A sudden surge in COVID-19 cases in Karnataka—which has reached 41,581 cases and 767 deaths in total—on Monday has pushed the state government to impose a total lockdown across five out of 30 high-risk districts, for periods ranging from seven to 10 days.
Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, who held a videoconference with the deputy commissioners and CEOs and in-charge ministers on Monday, reviewed the COVID-19 situation and the response across the state. Yediyurappa has given the DCs a free hand to decide whether to impose a lockdown in their respective districts.
The chief minister expressed concern over the increase in COVID-19 deaths and directed the officials to take steps to cut down the mortality rate.
While Bangalore Urban, Dakshina Kannada, Dharwad, Bellary, Udupi and Kalaburagi districts have reported a spike in the number of cases, Bidar, Dharwad, Gadag and Mysuru have suffered high death rate. In fact, Bidar district is among the top five districts in the country with highest COVID-19 fatality rate. Yediyurappa also sought a death audit in the high-incidence districts.
The Bangalore Urban and Rural districts will be under seven-day lockdown from July 14 night to July 22 morning, while Dharwad will implement 10-day lockdown from July 15 (10 am) to July 24 (8pm). Kalaburagi has imposed the lockdown on July 13 midnight, which will continue till July 20. Kodagu has chosen to impose a weekend lockdown on Saturday and Sunday. The Dakshina Kannada district will have a week-long lockdown starting July 16.
Defending the decision to impose the lockdown, Medical Education Minister Dr K. Sudhakar said, "Even the weekend lockdown has been effective in curbing the spread of the virus. The lockdown certainly slows down the spread of virus, helps trace contacts, track, isolate and treat COVID-positive patients. It will give us time to scale up testing and upgrade the health care facilities, which remain inadequate and strained."
Admitting that the sudden surge in COVID-19 cases was due to lapses in contact tracing, Dr Sudhakar said that block-level committees were being set up to trace the contacts of persons with COVID-19.
"Our health care workers are suffering from fatigue owing to their relentless work in the last four months. So, we are hoping that the volunteers from among the citizens will complement the efforts of the frontline worker at the booth level," said Sudhakar.
Meanwhile, opposition leaders demanded that the lockdown be extended across the state, citing high incidence and mortality.
Former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda, who welcomed the week-long lockdown in Bengaluru, urged the state government to extend the lockdown across the state to check the spread of the coronavirus.
KPCC working president Eshwar Khandre too demanded a state-wide total lockdown for 15 days.
Lockdown guidelines
The guidelines for the lockdown have exempted not just the essential services like pharmacies and medical services but also industries like food processing, manufacturing of essential goods, drugs, special economic zones (SEZs) and export-oriented units (EoUs) and industrial townships adhering to national directives for COVID-l9 management.
The government has also allowed the e-commerce companies, delivery of food and other services and onsite construction work to continue as usual.
The state government offices will function with 50 per cent staff strength, while the private sector has been asked to encourage work from home.
There will be no restriction on the movement of goods and cargo, but only emergency travel will be allowed in Bengaluru.
