Karnataka: Night curfew imposed in Bengaluru till August 16; New prohibitory orders issued

Pramesh S Jain.Yogesh K Porwar

Karnataka Government has issued new prohibitory orders to contain the spread of Covid in the city. It has implemented night curfew from 10 pm to 6 am till 16th August.

Minutes after swearing in ceremony of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai newly appointed Council of Ministers,at Raj Bhavan,City police commissioner,Kamal Pant on Tuesday enforced  prohibitory orders in and around the city restricting assembly of four or more people in public places .

The order signed by Mr.Pant on Sunday was executed on Tuesday,saying that the prohibitory orders were issued following the decision of state disaster management committee on July 31st to contain the spread of covid pandemic .

Though the prohibitory orders are applicable across the city till midnight of 16 August 2021,places like bus stands,metro railway stations and airports have been exempted .

Even though the number of positive cases in Bengaluru have come down substantially,it is considered to impose certain restrictions in accordance with the government to prevent spread of covid cases in the city,the order said .

The order was enforced to prevent danger to human life,health and maintain public peace.It is considered essential to restrict the number of people gathering in public places .

This week, several apartment complexes in the city were turned into containment zones as Covid cases shot up.

Apartments become containment zones due to the people who are residing in their homes after travelling abroad and hiding travel information.

Till 2nd August, there were 108 active micro-containment zones in Bengaluru under Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike.

There were 44 zones in the city on 1st July, indicating that the maximum number were added in July.Karnataka had started seeing a spike in Covid cases in the last week of the month.

On 31st July, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced that his government had extended the Covid guidelines till 16 August. He said the guidelines imposed till 2 August would be extended for the next 15 days. “A total of 72% school teachers have been vaccinated. In the next 15 days, we will cover 100%,” he said.

“We allowed people who had received one dose of the vaccine. From tomorrow, it will be necessary to have both doses. Random testing should be increased in border areas. We have discussed micro containment, tracing, testing,” he added.

Any violations to this order will be liable for prosecution under Disaster management act and Karnataka Epidemic disease Act.