Case numbers still high, Karnataka, Kerala and Goa extend lockdown
Updated: May 22, 2021 8:08:55 am
As Cases and deaths remained high, Karnataka, Goa and Kerala Friday announced an extension to their existing curbs.
While Karnataka announced a 14-day extension till June 7, Goa extended its curfew till May 31. Kerala, meanwhile, extended the lockdown till May 30 but announced an easing of the “triple-lockdown” in three districts.
Announcing the extension, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said: “Based on the advice of the technical advisory committee the tough restrictions are being extended till 6 am on June 7 from May 24 for 14 days. This is being done with the health of citizens in mind.”
“The Covid infections are spreading in the rural areas and the death toll is increasing and in order to stop this we have taken decisions and I am seeking the cooperation of people in stopping the spread of the disease,” the chief minister said.
Yediyurappa said that existing restrictions, which allow movement of people only between 6 am and 10 am would continue.
With Karnataka clocking over 45,000 Covid cases daily the state government had imposed a lockdown from May 10 to 24 to break the chain of Covid 19 transmission in the state.
The announcement of the lockdown had come on a day when the state reported a record 592 deaths including 346 in the city of Bengaluru. On Friday there were 353 deaths with 129 being recorded in Bengaluru.
In Goa, for the first time since April 28, the total number of active cases was below 20,000 on Friday. Thirty deaths were reported in the state on Friday and the total number of active cases stood at 19,328. The positivity rate in the state was 32 per cent on Friday. While the number of new Covid-19 infections was 1,625, there were 3,075 recoveries in the state.
In Kerala, the average positivity and daily death numbers continue to remain high.
The average test positivity in the last three days in Kerala is 23.3 percent and the daily death tally has been hovering in three digits this week.
After a review meeting on Friday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the media that since there is no respite in Covid-19 numbers, the lockdown, which began on May 8, would continue till May 30. He said that the triple lockdown prevailing in three districts — Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Thrissur — would be lowered to lockdown from Saturday, while it would remain in place in Malappuram, where the TPR is above 25 per cent.
Pointing out that Kerala is one of the states reporting the highest number of cases, Vijayan said the number of deaths would go up in the state in coming days. “So far, we could check the death figure as the growth of the infection could be delayed. But in the coming days, deaths would go up. Kerala had reported 43,529 new cases on May 12, the highest daily figure since the second wave. Conditions of many of the positive cases reported on those days have worsened, leading to deaths. Next three weeks are very critical,” he said.
Karnataka has witnessed a massive Covid surge since the last week of March and recorded over 50,000 positive cases on May 5 with 346 deaths.
While Bengaluru has been the epicentre of the second wave in Karnataka, the rest of the state has been seeing rising numbers in the last couple of weeks.
The positivity rate has been over 20 per cent in 27 of the 30 districts in the state.
