Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said today that the state government could impose a lockdown if the need arises. Karnataka is among the 10 states that have shown a sharp increase in daily cases of coronavirus, according to the Union Ministry of Health.
“People have to react for their own good. If they ignore it, we may have to take strict measures. If necessary and if necessary, we will impose the lockdown,” said Yediyurappa, news agency PTI reported.
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Reacting to questions about the growth of coronavirus cases in the state, which saw numbers surpass 10,000 on Sunday, he said the prime minister had also told him about the measures his government is taking.
“(I told him) that we have imposed a nighttime curfew in the districts where coronavirus cases are increasing,” Yediyurappa said.
Bengaluru and six other towns in Karnataka have imposed a nighttime curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. The curfew will be in effect until April 20 in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mangaluru, Kalaburagi, Bidar, Tumakuru and Udupi-Manipal.
Karnataka has reported 10,250 new COVID-19 cases and 40 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 10,65,290, the state health department informed on Sunday.
There are now 69,225 active cases in this state. So far, 9.83,157 recoveries and 12,889 deaths have been reported in the state.
Of the total number of new cases, more than half of the new cases (7,584) were reported from the capital Bengaluru.
India is currently witnessing the second wave of the coronavirus. In the highest one-day peak, nearly 1.7 lakh of new Covid-19 cases were reported today, according to the Union Health Ministry. This is the sixth day in a row that more than one case of lakh has been reported in the country.