Bengaluru lockdown news: Today's updates from your city

TIMESOFINDIA.COM | Updated: Apr 21, 2020, 13:11 IST

Besides 500 Bengaluru city police personnel, 15 platoons of KSRP and CAR personnel have been deployed in Padarayanapura

Besides 500 Bengaluru city police personnel, 15 platoons of KSRP and CAR personnel have been deployed in Padar...Read More

Amid prevalent chaos and uncertainty over access to the essential services and commodities during the lockdown, we bring you the latest updates from your city.
* Hours after TOI reported about the plight of over 40 migrant families in the heart of the city due to the lockdown, several social workers and BBMP officials made a beeline for their shantytown in Vasanthnagar and provided them with rations, milk and medical assistance.
* Fever clinics are being set up at 12 private medical colleges in Bengaluru to scale up screening of suspected Covid-19 cases. Swab collection facilities for testing have been assigned to these clinics.
* Karnataka government is set to promulgate an ordinance, based on the Uttar Pradesh and Kerala model, to protect police and frontline health workers fighting Covid-19. It is also aimed at punishing those indulging in spreading fake news and those who do not cooperate with the government in containing the pandemic.
* Update at 9.39am: Death toll due to Covid-19 rises to 590 in country; number of cases climb to 18,601, reports PTI quoting health ministry
* Update at 8.37am: 80-year-old Covid-19 patient dies in Karnataka's Kalaburagi district; death toll in state rises to 17, reports PTI
* A day after a team of BBMP doctors and ASHA workers was attacked in Padarayanapura of west Bengaluru, the Karnataka government on Monday said it will promulgate an ordinance to protect police and health workers on Covid-19 duties.
* Karnataka government on Monday deferred a decision on easing lockdown restrictions from April 22 after the Centre came down heavily on Kerala for diluting its guidelines issued under the Disaster Management Act 2005.
* The state government is set to promulgate an ordinance, based on the Uttar Pradesh and Kerala model, to protect police and frontline health workers fighting Covid-19. It is also aimed at punishing those indulging in spreading fake news and those who do not cooperate with the government in containing the pandemic.
* Nudged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help labourers from unorganised sectors hit by the lockdown, the Karnataka government is looking to emulate Haryana’s model where the state has rolled out direct cash transfer (DBT) scheme for daily-wage workers. The Haryana government has been transferring Rs 1,000 directly to bank accounts of beneficiaries every week.
* The state health department has started using recent call data of Covid-19 patients to identify and trace all the people they may have met, officials said. The move was prompted after some patients were unable or reluctant to share this information, which is crucial to check the viral spread.
* The reopening of food processing industries in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh has provided a financial lifeline to several Karnataka farmers who were struggling to find buyers for horticulture crops following the nationwide lockdown.