Karnataka: Will CM Yediyurappa Announce 7-Day Lockdown Amid Rising COVID Cases? All Eyes on Today’s Cabinet Meeting

April 26, 2021

In a bid to control the further spread of coronavirus infection in the state, the BS Yediyurappa-led Karnataka government may take some strict decisions, including the implementation of lockdown. If reports are to be believed, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, at the state Cabinet meeting on April 26, will be seeking opinions from his ministers on imposing week-long lockdown-like restrictions. The Cabinet is also expected to decide on providing free vaccines to the citizens.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the meeting, Karnataka Chief Secretary P Ravi Kumar asserted that scores of officials from across the state have been demanding another round of lockdown despite objections from a large section of people to impose such curbs despite the alarming surge in the number of Covid cases in the state.
After chairing a senior officials’ meeting, the Chief Secretary told the media that demand for another round of lockdown from the tchnical advisory committee (TAC) on Covid affairs has been gaining ground across the state. “Even the government wants to enforce it. Everyone knows it’s the best solution. But a large section of the peopulation don’t want it. They want everything to be let loose,” he added.
“How long and how much the government can do alone? At some point or the other, the government also needs people’s support to implement its decisions. At least in times like this, the least the government can expect is people to wear their masks properly,” Kumar added.

Earlier, experts had also asked the BS Yediyurappa-led government to take some stringent measures to break the chain of infection. “A total lockdown of 14 days had become essential now to reduce the speed of transmission.
This is my opinion. We need to enhance the bed capacity by using facilities in medical colleges at the earliest”, The Hindu quoted TAC member Giridhar R Babu, head of Lifecourse Epidemiology at the Public Health Foundation of India, as saying.

COVID-19 on Rise In Karnataka

Karnataka on Saturday crossed the 13 lakh infection mark since the outbreak of COVID with the highest single-day spike of 29,438 infections, while 208 deaths took the total fatalities to 14,283.
The highest single-day infection was on Friday with 26,962 fresh cases. The state has now 2,34,483 active cases including 1,280 in the ICU.
According to the health bulletin, 10,55,612 people were discharged cumulatively including 9,058 today in the state. Bengaluru urban district accounted for 17,342 infections, 149 deaths and 1,62,171 active cases.As many as 4,646 patients were discharged on Saturday.