Bengaluru eases lockdown restrictions from 14 June: Here’s what’s allowed, what’s not

Covid-19 lockdown restrictions will be eased in Bengaluru from June 14 as the coronavirus situation continues to improve in the city, the Karnataka government announced on Thursday.

Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar said today, based on positivity rate, districts that have more than 15% of positivity rate (about 11 districts ) we've continued with the existing lockdown guidelines. In the remaining districts including Bengaluru city we've relaxed the guidelines.

As per the new directives issued on Thursday, shops selling essential articles would be allowed to stay open till 2 pm, construction activities will be permitted, industries will be allowed to operate with 50% attendance.

Here is what is allowed and what is not

• Shops selling essential goods have been permitted to operate till 2 PM by extending their duration from 10 AM earlier
• Parks will be opened from 5 AM to 10 AM for walkers
• Street vendors can do their business from 6 AM to 2 PM
• Auto and taxis are allowed to ply with maximum two passengers
• Hotels and restaurants will continue to do parcel service and bars will be open for takeaways till 2 PM
• All industries have been permitted to operate with 50 per cent staff strength, but garment industries can operate with 30 per cent staff strength.
• All construction activities will be permitted, and shops needed for construction activities like cement, steel among others have also been allowed to open
• mportant departments of the government can operate with 50 per cent staff

The night curfew is going to be continued. Similarly, weekend curfew which starts from Friday 7 pm till Monday 5 am will continue till June 21.

Bengaluru Urban on Thursday reported 2,191 new COVID cases, 4846 discharges and 47 deaths.

Full lockdown to continue in some districts

The state health minister further mentioned that the complete lockdown will continue in 11 districts till June 21.

He further added, Chikmagalur, Shivamogga, Davanagere, Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Bengaluru rural, Mandya, Belagavi and Kodagu are in complete lockdown till June 21. From June 14, these 11 districts will have some relaxation like opening of essential shops.

Earlier today, the chief minister's office said, the cases have come down due to the stringent measures adopted by the state government during lockdown but they are not decreasing in these eight districts as expected. The chief minister expressed his anxiety over the increase in cases in rural areas.

The Karnataka government had initially announced 14 days 'close-down' from April 27, but subsequently imposed a complete lockdown from May 10 to May 24, as the COVID cases continued to spike.

Over 10,000 COVID bed vacant in the city

Meanwhile, on Thursday Bengaluru's civic body said that over 10,000 COVID beds are currently unoccupied in the city and it wants to return some of them to the private hospitals. Further, the civic body said the temporary crematorium facilities are also being decommissioned as the fatality rate has also come down significantly.

BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta said on Thursday, "We took nearly 13,000 beds but their utilization was limited due to a sharp reduction in cases with over 10,000 vacant beds. We decided to let go of some beds." These beds would be returned to private hospitals.

We had set up temporary facilities (crematoriums) to cater to the situation then, now deaths are in reasonable numbers, so they are being decommissioned. We're going ahead with regular crematoriums as number of deaths is 40-50 every day, he added.

(With inputs from agencies)