Karnataka: Hassan district also eases restrictions

HASSAN: After more than two months of a near-total lockdown, Hassan district will join the rest of the state as restrictions are set to be lifted from Monday.
While all the other districts in the state had lifted the lockdown completely – Kodagu had also eased curbs last week – Hassan remained under curfew due to its high positivity rate. The positivity rate fell to 4.7% on Saturday, district health officer Dr KM Sathish revealed.
On Sunday, the district reported 154 fresh cases and five fatalities. Total active cases in the district stood at 2,289, including 71 people in ICU.
Under Unlock 3.0, the government had allowed all commercial establishments to operate till 9pm. Industries were already allowed to function. However, the Hassan district administration allowed shops to only open for a few hours thrice a week.
Deputy commissioner R Girish had also extended restrictions relating to people visiting temples and tourist places till 6am on July 12.
On July 9th, heeding to a request from the manager, Lead Bank, he had allowed all banks and LIC offices to operate on weekdays and Saturday till 5pm.
“If curbs were not lifted, we had planned to meet the DC to urge him to allow industries to operate for a half day on all weekdays,” said Dhanpal, president, District Chamber of Commerce and Industries. Nagaraju, a tourism department official, said the livelihoods of those dependent on tourism will be saved.