Karnataka on Sunday became the latest state to announce the return of night curfew in view of a fresh surge in Covid-19 cases, including those due to the Omicron variant.
In a meeting chaired by chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, the state government decided that starting December 28, for a period of 10 days, there will be a ban on movement of people, from 10pm to 5am.
“From December 28 onwards, for about ten days, to begin with, we would like to watch by calling a night curfew, invoking Section 144, from night 10 PM to the next morning 5 AM,” Health Minister K Sudhakar said.
The Minister also said that in places like eateries, hotels, pubs and restaurants can have 50 percent of the seating capacity of the premises.
State health minister said that about 97 percent of eligible population have been vaccinated with one dose. The state is planning to vaccinate the remaining 3 percent soon. Vaccination will be taken up on war footing, he said.
“Omicron has crossed 4000 cases in India. There’s every possibility it will go up further,” Sudhakar cautioned. He also appealed to people to take their second doses before Omicron cases go up further.
4000 ICU beds have been readied so far, health minister said, adding that the state will ramp this up further to 7051.
Meanwhile, India reported 6,987 fresh Covid-19 cases and 162 deaths in the last 24 hours, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.
The country’s active caseload currently stands at 76,766, the lowest since March 2020. According to the Ministry, 422 cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus have been reported in the country so far.
(For more updates stay tuned with DNP India)
