Lockdown in Karnataka: Advisory committee said to Impose night curfew, reduce workforce by 50% amid rise in COVID cases

Bengaluru: Amid covid cases rise in state, Karnataka’s technical advisory committee has advised the state government to impose night curfew from 7 pm to 6 am. The panel also suggested that weekend curfew should also be enforced in the state to contain the spread of the viral infection.  

The state has also been asked to reduce the workforce by 50 percent due to rise in number of cases. The suggestions come amid growing concerns over the anticipated third wave of the coronavirus pandemic. The Centre recently said that ten states, including Karnataka, are witnessing an upsurge in COVID cases and positivity rate.

Advising strict restrictions in districts with a positivity rate of more than 10 per cent, to prevent crowds and intermingling of people. Besides Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Assam, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh and Manipur are the other states that are either reporting a rise in new daily COVID cases or a rise in positivity rate, according to a Union Health Ministry’s statement.

The government has asked these states to ramp up their testing along with vaccination saturation in targeted districts for “the 60+ and 45-60 age categories as evidence shows near 80 per cent of the mortality is from these vulnerable age-groups”.

“All districts reporting positivity rate more than 10 per cent in the last few weeks need to consider strict restrictions to prevent or curtail movement of people, formation of crowds and intermingling of people to prevent spread of infection,” the ministry said.