The state government is set to decide on stricter measures to rein in the Covid-19 second wave during a meeting on Monday. The talks come at a time when experts have warned that the government is fast losing control over the second surge.
When asked if the government was now leaning towards a lockdown, Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said what was being considered was "not necessarily" a lockdown but involved stringent measures "to curtail movement".
The minister's statement comes in the wake of record-breaking numbers of Covid-19 cases being reported in the state over the last two weeks. On Sunday, Karnataka reported 19,067 cases, of which 12,793 were from Bengaluru alone.
"The virus is being spread through the activities and movements of people. The decision before the government is how many activities it will curtail,” the minister said, adding that he hoped the decisions would support sweeping restrictions.
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Sources said the government stares at the hard choice of introducing a lockdown for neglecting measures which could have curbed the outbreak earlier. “The one step, night curfew, has not helped because not many people socialise after 10 pm,” a source said.
“As of Sunday, the city has run out of ICU beds completely. There is not one bed available for critical cases,” the source added.
Officially, the BBMP website showed that 5% of ICU beds and ICU-ventilator beds (52 ICU beds and 24 ICU-ventilator beds) were available.
“The picture presented on paper does not match the reality on the ground,” the source said, adding that a surprise visit to several private hospitals on Sunday showed no free beds even though they were reported as being available to the government.
The result prompted the BBMP to issue notices to five private hospitals for not complying with the mandated 50% of beds for the government: Columbia Asia, Fortis, Baptist, Vikram and Aster CMI.
10 new Covid Care Centres
BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta said plans are under way to scale up ICU bed numbers. He added that 10 new Covid Care Centres (CCCs) would also be opened in the weeks to come, including at the Agricultural College and at a centre donated by Bosch in Koramangala.