Karnataka lockdown relaxed; cinema halls and theatres permitted to open, night curfew eased [DETAILS]

KEY STORY

• Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Sunday held a meeting with ministers and government officials at his residence in Bengaluru and decided to ease some of the COVID-19 restrictions in place to beat the pandemic. The relaxations will take effect beginning July 19.

• Under the new rules, cinemas and theatres are allowed to open with 50 per cent capacity, while following COVID-appropriate behaviour.

• From July 26, colleges, both undergraduate and postgraduate, will be permitted to open. All students and staff are required to receive at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine before attending physical education classes at the colleges.

• In addition, the state government has eased the night curfew by an hour, and it will now run from 10 pm to 5 am.

• A formal order announcing these decisions and providing further details will be issued soon.

• The state had gone into full lockdown on April 28. By May 10, the restrictions were made even stricter as the COVID-19 daily tally exceeded 50,000 cases on May 5, and active cases reached over six lakh on May 15.

• The rules were relaxed first on June 14, and then on June 21 and July 5.

• As part of the preparation for the possibility of a third wave, the government on Friday announced that it plans to train doctors and paramedics across the state. “The state health department will conduct training sessions for doctors and paramedical staff in district hospitals across the state for preparing them to fight the pandemic’s possible third wave,” Health Minister Dr Sudhakar K told the media.

CONCLUSION

• He added: “Measures are being taken as recommended by the expert committee headed by noted cardiologist Devi Prasad Shetty to minimise the impact of the third wave on people.”

• On Friday, Karnataka declared that educational institutions working in the health and medical field will be reopened immediately.

• “It has been decided to allow reopening of all Medical, Dental, AYUSH and other allied healthcare educational institutions in the state with immediate effect,” tweeted Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar on Friday.