The Karnataka government is reportedly planning to further relax restrictions, lift the night curfew and open pubs from July 19, as the state is witnessing a dip in the daily COVID case count. The test positivity rate has also slid below 5% across all 31 districts.
Night curfew to be lifted?
Speaking to reporters, home minister Basavaraj Bommai had earlier stated that some relaxations are on the cards and the issues of lifting the weekend curfew and reducing the hours of night curfew are being discussed. The chief minister will take a final call after the GoM meeting.
Reopening of malls, cinema halls?
Karnataka government is also likely to reopen malls and extend business hours of shops and may also give a nod to the opening of multiplexes and cinema halls with limited entry.
Last week Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa met mall owners who sought permission to resume business. Officials in the chief minister’s office asserted that CM Yediyurappa has responded positively to the request of mall owners provided the businesses maintain the COVID protocol.
CM Yediyurappa is expected to chair a meeting of the group of ministers on Friday or Saturday to discuss the recommendations before announcing Unlock 4.0.
On July 3, the Karnataka government had further relaxed the restrictions for the next two weeks, announcing that the weekend curfew will be lifted and the night curfew will continue from 9 pm to 5 am instead of the earlier 6 pm to 5 am. The state government also allowed malls to reopen and religious places to open to the public for ‘darshan’ only.
College reopening
Meanwhile, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Dr CN Ashwath Narayan on Monday said that the state is preparing to open colleges in physical mode and is focusing on vaccinating students, teachers and staff.
Speaking to reporters, the Karnataka Deputy CM said: “We are in the process of preparing for the opening of colleges. The examinations are going on as per the schedule by respective universities.”
“The vaccination program has been going on and have been inviting students to get vaccinated”, Narayan added.
Karnataka COVID cases
Karnataka on Monday saw further decline in the COVID cases with 1,386 fresh infections and 61 deaths, taking the caseload and toll to 28,72,684 and 35,896 respectively. The fresh infections came down by about 600 compared to Sunday.
The active cases in the state stood at 35,896. As many as 3,204 patients recovered, taking the total recoveries to 28,01,907. The positivity rate for the day was 1.26 per cent and case fatality rate was 4.40 per cent.