Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraja Bommai on Friday will be holding a meeting regarding the Covid situation in the state, and it is likely that the CM will lift some restrictions, including a weekend lockdown. The relaxations will come against the backdrop of the low hospitalisation rate in the state. The meeting will be held at 1 PM on Friday.
This week, on Wednesday, CM Bommai had indicated that the state government will make a decision regarding Covid-19 rules and relaxation after consulting experts on January 21. "The general feeling that it (infection) is like flu, and not much hospitalisation is taking place, so day-to-day activities can be allowed by following COVID rules. Experts are examining it, they will place things before us on Friday," the Karnataka Chief Minister said on Wednesday (Jan 19).
He said that the number of Covid-19 cases is increasing in the state but the occupancy of beds in hospitals is low. Therefore he suggested focusing on strengthening the OPD.
Currently, Karnataka has imposed a weekend curfew from Friday 10 PM to Monday 5 AM due to the surge in Covid-19 cases, driven by the Omicron variant. The state government has also put a 50% cap on pubs, clubs, restaurants, bars, hotels, cinema halls, multiplexes, theatres, and auditoriums occupancy. Marriage functions are permitted with not more than 200 people in open spaces and 100 people in closed places in the state.
According to the experts, the third wave of Covid-19 is likely to peak from January 23 or the first week of February with daily cases expected to stay below the four lakh mark. So, Karnataka CM Bommai will re-examine the Covid curbs after taking into account experts' opinions. Karnataka had earlier imposed curbs like weekend and night curfew based on experts’ advisory.
Registering a steep spike, Karnataka on Thursday reported 47,754 new cases of Covid-19, and 29 fatalities, taking the tally to 33,76,953 and the death toll to 38,515. The total number of active cases across the state is now 2,93,231. While the positivity rate for the day stood at 18.48%, the case fatality rate (CFR) was 0.06%. There were 22,143 discharges in a day, taking the total number of recoveries to 30,45,177, a health department bulletin said.
