BENGALURU: Amid the COVID-19 surge in the state, with 1290 new cases on Monday taking the daily positivity rate to 1.60 percent and 90 percent of them being reported from Bengaluru, stricter curbs can be expected soon.
Health and Medical Education Minister Sudhakar on Tuesday said that a meeting will be held by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai along with senior cabinet colleagues and the COVID-19 Technical Advisory Committee today at 6 pm to decide on further precautionary measures to be taken, especially in Bengaluru, after analysing the Omicron spread in the state.
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"Measures at Bengaluru airport, micro containment zones, schools, and other restrictions will be discussed. Bengaluru has been the epicentre of the past two waves and the same is likely to happen in the third wave, which has begun in Karnataka. People from other countries and states travel to Bengaluru, hence there are more cases. If we contain the spread in the city, we can contain the spread in the state," Sudhakar said.
He said the state cannot prevent the spread but can reduce the number of cases, through various measures. He appealed to the media not to use words such as lockdown as lives and livelihoods have returned to normal only recently. The state government intends to bring in measures without hurting the common people, he said.
On Monday, Karnataka launched the COVID-19 vaccine drive for children between 15 and 18 years and met 65 percent of its target of 638891 kids. They expect to cover the 43 lakh beneficiaries in this age group, with one dose of Covaxin, in the next 10 to 15 days. However, they are awaiting orders from the Centre on going about the second dose coverage.