Government mulls tougher Covid rules to curb cases in Bengaluru

According to Karnataka Revenue Minister R Ashoka, Bengaluru is in the Red Zone

The state government will soon come up with "tougher" measures to curb Covid infections in Bengaluru but may have to resort to a lockdown if people do not cooperate, Revenue Minister R Ashoka said on Sunday.

Speaking to media persons after a meeting held by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, he said the government will revise the rules within the next few days. "The chief minister will hold a meeting a few days ahead of January 7, when the night curfew ends, to decide on tougher rules. The expert committee (Technical Advisory Committee) will brief the chief minister on the measures needed to be taken. Whatever restrictions they suggest will be implemented without making any changes," he said.

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Ashoka said that stricter measures were necessary as Bengaluru was among the places classified as 'red zone' by the Union government. "A situation has developed where the third wave seems imminent at any time. Bengaluru is one of the red zones declared by the Centre. Therefore, alerting Bengaluru is very important. We believe additional restrictions will help reduce the cases and number of hospitalisations," he added.

Besides the restrictions, the minister said the government will also make preparations to face the rising cases. Referring to the high number of fatalities, he said: "We know what happened in the second wave in the country and the world. Therefore, we will ensure there are no shortcomings in arranging bed facilities, oxygen facilities, medicine."

The minister said West Bengal was going for a (partial) lockdown and Delhi and Maharashtra were also facing a similar situation. "We request the public to cooperate with the tougher rules, failing which we may have to resort to the lockdown," he added.

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