Karnataka likely to Impose Lockdown Again. Minister K Sudhakar Meet TAC Over New COVID Variant

Amid the detection of the new COVID-19 variant AY.4, there are reports that the Karnataka government is mulling imposing fresh lockdown guidelines. The State Minister for Health and Family Welfare and Medical Education, Sudhakar K meet the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) on October 26 and consult Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on the same.

This comes amid the rising cases of the new COVID-19 variant in parts of India, many people are concerned about the rise of the third wave of the pandemic, and the severity of the new variant. Karnataka on Tuesday reported 277 new Covid-19 cases, 343 recoveries and seven deaths. According to the state health department, the total count of cases in the state stands at 29,86,553 including 8,510 active cases.

With new recoveries in the state, the total recoveries touched 29,39,990. The death toll in the state is 38,024. Karnataka’s case fatality rate stands at 2.52 per cent and the positivity rate is 0.36 per cent.

Covid Third wave start in China, Imposed complete lockdown

Amid the fresh surge in Covid-19 infections in at least 11 Chinese provinces, a fresh lockdown has been imposed in the affected parts of the country. More than 100 fresh cases across these provinces have been registered over the last week.

“Since October 17, there have been multiple scattered local outbreaks in China, and they’re expanding rapidly,” said Mi Feng, a spokesman at the National Health Commission. “There is an increasing risk that the outbreak will spread even further,” media reported. The rapid spread comes despite about 75 per cent of China’s population of more than a billion people being fully vaccinated, according to Mi.

The spread of coronavirus infections worried the Chinese government, which insists on a strict zero-COVID policy to stamp out infections. The outbreak was first detected on October 16 among a tour group of fully vaccinated senior citizens from Shanghai who travelled in several northern regions. Among the 133 infections reported as of Sunday, 106 were linked to 13 tour groups, according to Mi, the NHC health official.

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Infections have been reported in nearly a third of the country’s provinces and regions, with all medium- and high-risk regions concentrated in Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Ningxia, Guizhou and Beijing. Authorities have banned travel agencies from organising cross-provincial tours in these regions.

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