K'taka May See Total Lockdown After May 12 as Bengaluru Positivity Rate Reaches 55%, Active Cases Cross 3L

With the steep rise in Covid-19 cases despite one week of curfew, the Karnataka govt is contemplating imposing a complete lockdown in the state for two weeks post-May 12.

With many sectors namely manufacturing, construction, and garments factories operational at 50 percent capacity and an unchecked vehicular movement, the two-week curfew from April 27 bore partial results in curbing the virus spread, TOI reported.

The continuing Covid surge is also being attributed to people’s recent exodus from Bengaluru to other districts with the onset of the curfew.

The cabinet met on Tuesday to discuss the outcome of the present curfew. CM Yediyurappa told reporters that the cabinet will take a stock of the situation on May 12 and decide on the possibility of imposing a lockdown thereafter.

On the other hand, an expert panel has been suggesting the CM go in for a complete lockdown without any relaxation till May end so that the pandemic starts receding by mid-June in other districts.

Meanwhile, Bengaluru’s positivity rate touched an all-time high of 55 percent on Monday with Covid’s total tally breaching the 3 lakh mark.

The decision to test only symptomatic people may be the reason behind the spike in rates, reported TOI. While 40,128 Covid-19 tests were conducted in Bengaluru on Sunday, 22,112 were positive. The average daily positivity rate in the first three days of May was 45%.

As per last week, the positivity rate in Bengaluru was 12 percent with 20,82,897 tests conducted as compared to 2.31 percent against 13,78,753 tests in the month of March. The highest-ever positivity rate in the city since the pandemic broke out was at 23.8 percent in July.

The city’s average of 20,000 cases per day comes as a grim time when the authorities have taken a call to reduce testing from 1 lakh tests per day to around 40,000 daily.

As per findings, family members of at least 500 patients set out every day in search of ventilator beds in different hospitals of the city, and barely two dozens of them find medical resources to help sustain their loved ones.

On Tuesday, the city logged in 20,870 Covid-positive cases and 132 deaths out of Karnataka’s total count of 44,632 fresh infections and 292 deaths.

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