BENGALURU: On a day Karnataka posted 15,000-plus fresh Covid cases and Bengaluru accounting for nearly 10,000 of them, the state government was actively looking at extending the night curfew duration by two hours in Bengaluru and impose it on other high-burden districts as it seeks to battle a surge in fresh infections.
Other measures on the table include a 10-day closure of cinema halls, bars and pubs, gyms and colleges. Fresh restrictions, if approved by the government at a meeting on Tuesday, may come into force from April 21.
In the past 24 hours, the state reported 146 Covid-19 fatalities, of which 97 were from Bengaluru. The youngest among the dead was a 26-year-old woman from Bengaluru who suffered from hypertension and diabetes.
A meeting of Bengaluru MLAs, MLCs and MPs chaired by revenue minister R Ashoka here on Monday discussed these measures, and the government is "positively considering a few of their suggestions", sources said. The government was looking at extending the 10pm-5am curfew hours - in force from April 10 to 20 - to 8pm/9pm to 6am.
A final decision will be made on Tuesday evening after eliciting opinions of floor leaders from both houses of the legislature at an all-party meeting chaired by governor Vajubhai Vala. Chief minister BS Yediyurappa will take part in the meeting from the hospital where he is being treated for Covid-19.
Full lockdown, harsh curbs will affect the poor: MLAs
At the meeting chaired by Ashoka, several MLAs and MPs opposed any move to impose a full-scale lockdown or Section 144 of CrPC that prohibits public gatherings, claiming they had been proved ineffective in the first wave of the pandemic. They argued that lockdown and stringent curbs would put the poor and the working class to severe hardship. Some were against extending curfew hours too.
Congress MLAs attacked the government over shortage of ICU beds, oxygen and Remdesivir drug as Ashoka and health minister K Sudhakar tried to explain the steps taken to address the shortage.
Former minister R Ramalinga Reddy drew the government’s attention towards the delay caused in generating Bengaluru Urban (BU) code numbers for patients which is affecting the pace of their hospitalisation. Ashoka said instructions have been given to nodal officers to ensure BU code numbers are generated within six hours of a person testing positive.
“The shortage of beds has cropped up because private hospitals, which should set aside 50% beds for Covid patients, have so far given 10% beds. To avoid this, we will bring all positive cases to Covid Care Centres and then decide who requires hospitalisation,” Ashoka said.
Former minister ZA Zameer Ahmed Khan reportedly urged the government not to ban prayers in mosques, saying the community has volunteered to restrict the number of attendees.