Karnataka Covid wrap: 4,553 new cases recorded; govt allows gyms to operate with 50% capacity

Karnataka on Sunday reported 4,553 new Covid-19 cases even as the state government issued a revised order allowing gyms to operate with 50 per cent capacity, making a second U-turn from the restrictions announced on Friday.

“Gyms will be allowed to remain open with the condition that the occupancy at any time (in gyms) cannot exceed 50 per cent of the capacity. Strict Covid-appropriate-behaviour like ensuring wearing of masks, physical distancing, and provision of hand sanitiser shall be enforced,” the revised order issued on Sunday read.

Chief Secretary P Ravikumar clarified that the decision was taken after considering a number of representations received by Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, seeking relaxation in the restrictions announced earlier, with certain conditions.

Back-to-back U-turns by #Karnataka govt on consecutive days

-Now, gyms allowed to operate with 50% capacity and Covid-appropriate-behaviour
-Yesterday, cinema halls were allowed to function with 100% occupancy till 12 am on Apr 7. @IndianExpress #COVIDSecondWave pic.twitter.com/75Bp2BkZl9

— Ralph Alex Arakal (@ralpharakal) April 4, 2021

Earlier, on Saturday, an order to limit occupancy at cinema halls and theatres to 50% of capacity was deferred and normal occupancy restored till midnight of April 7, by virtue of a revised circular from the government.

“The Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce has made a request to the CM to allow cinema halls to run due to the fact that advance bookings have been made because of non-receipt of advance notice. It is now decided that the said restriction (50% limit to seating capacity) will be made applicable with effect from 00.00 hours of April 7, 2021,” the order dated April 4 read.

All other restrictions, announced on Friday, will remain in effect till April 20, government sources clarified.

State to get over 15.25 lakh more Covid vaccine doses

Karnataka is expected to receive 15.25 lakh more doses of Covid-19 vaccine by Monday, Health and Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar confirmed in a tweet. “One consignment of 5,25,500 doses will arrive at Belagavi by road and another consignment of 10,00,000 doses will arrive at Bengaluru by air through a late evening flight,” Health and Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar tweeted.

To date, over 43.55 lakh people have been inoculated across Karnataka so far. While over 5.69 lakh healthcare workers have taken the first dose, 3.48 lakh of them have taken the second jab. Government data also indicates that over 2.46 lakh and 90,758 frontline workers have taken the first and second doses respectively.

Meanwhile, over 21.65 lakh senior citizens (above the age of 60 years) and 9 lakh people, between45 and 59 years of age (including those with comorbidities) have been inoculated so far.

The state had received a further 4 lakh doses of the vaccine on March 24.

Bengaluru could see nearly 6.5K daily cases by April 20: Expert

As Bengaluru continues to top the list of all districts in Karnataka with a constant uptick in daily new cases, epidemiologist Dr Giridhar R Babu — who was also among the team of principal investigators of the serosurvey — predicted that the capital city is likely to report nearly 6,500 daily cases by April 20.
“At this rate, #Bengaluru will have ~6500 daily cases by 20th April. Even if 10% of them require hospitalization, the health system will run out of capacity in few days. We need action now, not tomorrow,” he tweeted.

He added that while the lockdown in 2020 was “mostly unavoidable”, the “impending one in 2021 is mostly preventable”. He further noted that most congregations were preventable as the situation is fast-evolving. “What could have been done locally, is fast evolving, necessitating national level mitigation measures,” the epidemiologist, who is also a member of the state’s Covid-19 Technical Advisory Committee, said.

Till date, Bengaluru (Urban & Rural together) has reported over 4.66 lakh cases since March 8, 2020. A total of 4,814 people have succumbed to the infection. At present (as on April 4, 2021), active cases are up at 28,906, with 158 people admitted to the Intensive Care Unit in different private and government hospitals.

Kodagu: Tourist spots shut temporarily; resorts, homestays to remain open

The Kodagu district administration on Saturday issued an order directing temporary closure of all tourist spots that fall within its jurisdiction.

Deputy Commissioner Charulatha Somal said in an order that the restrictions will be applicable till April 20, in a bid “to curb the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in the state of Karnataka”.

However, she clarified that resorts, hotels and homestays will be allowed to function as usual. “There is no blanket ban on tourism in the district. Resorts, hotels and homestays are permitted to operate by following Covid-appropriate-behaviour,” Somal added.

4,553 new Covid-19 cases, 2787 in Bengaluru alone

As many as 4,553 more people contracted coronavirus infection in Karnataka on Monday, while 2,060 others recovered. Of these, 2,787 new cases and 1,225 discharges were reported from Bengaluru Urban alone. Meanwhile, 15 more people succumbed to the virus, with Bengaluru Urban accounting for eight of them. The number of active cases further rose to 39,092.

Other districts that reported most cases on Sunday were Mysuru (260), Kalaburagi (170) and Bidar (147). A total of 15,106 people were inoculated on Sunday (till 3.30 pm). Of them, 5849 are above the age of 60 and 9,021 people fall in the 45-59 years category.