Asserting that reviving the economy was equally important, Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Friday said there will be no fresh lockdown in Bengaluru despite the rise in coronavirus cases in the city.
“There will be no fresh lockdown in Bengaluru where all efforts were underway to control the spread of coronavirus as reviving the state’s economy was equally important,” Yediyurappa said at a meeting of city legislators and Members of Parliament on measures to contain the pandemic.
Ruling out re-imposing a lockdown across the city for any reason, the chief minister said areas where more positive cases were reported to have been declared as containment areas and sealed to prevent the virus spread.
The chief minister’s reiteration comes a day after state Revenue Minister R. Ashoka ruled out enforcing a lockdown in Bengaluru again, which began Unlocked 1.0 on June 1.
“No lockdown again in Bengaluru. Only containment zones in the city where a large number of Covid-19 cases are reported will be sealed,” Ashoka told reporters after a cabinet meeting on the growing number of infections in the city.
Of the 442 new cases reported from across the southern state on Thursday, Bengaluru accounted for 113, taking its tally of positive cases to 1,791. With 505 people discharged so far, including 30 on Thursday, active cases are 1,207.
Of the 170 COVID deaths in the state, Bengaluru accounted for 78.
Sharing the COVID data with the ruling and opposition lawmakers from the city, the chief minister said a nodal officer would be appointed in each Assembly segment for monitoring the cases and taking steps to contain them.
Apprising the legislators about the measures taken to contain the virus spread in the city, the chief minister said 50 percent of beds in private hospitals across the city have been reserved for COVID cases in addition to the state-run hospitals.
Assuring their support to the state government in its fight against the deadly infection, opposition lawmakers said there were complaints of delay in serving food to the COVID patients under institutional quarantine and shortage of personal protection equipment for healthcare warriors in state-run hospitals.
“Swab testing facility will be set in all 28 assembly segments across the city and separate ambulance facility to transport bodies of COVID patients will be provided,” assured Yediyurappa to the legislators.
The all-party meeting also suggested to the state government to take over huge marriage halls around the city’s outskirts to quarantine asymptomatic patients.
The chief minister asked the MLAs to visit the state-run hospitals and report to him on the situation in them for improving the facilities.
As state Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar is attending to his father, wife, and daughter who tested positive last week, the chief minister has entrusted the charge of supervising the COVID management in the city to Ashoka, who is an MLA from the city.
Of the 28 assembly seats across Bengaluru, 14 belong to the ruling BJP, 12 to the opposition Congress, 1 to the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and 1 is vacant as a by-election has not been held due to a court case over its verdict in the May 2018 assembly elections in the southern state.
