K’taka Health Min rules out stringent lockdown for now

Bengaluru: Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Saturday said there is no proposal before the State government to impose a stringent lockdown though he admitted that at least three to four weeks of strict measures were required to contain the spread of the COVID-19.

“There is no proposal before the government to impose a complete lockdown. We want people to strictly follow the regulations,” he told reporters in Kalaburagi. He was reacting to a query on open defiance of lockdown at various places. Karnataka imposed a lockdown from the night of April 27 till May 12 following an alarming rise in COVID cases. The State has reported over 48,000 cases in a single day of which over half of the cases were in Bengaluru. The State has over four lakh active cases.

As many as 15,523 people have died since the outbreak of the pandemic last year. Citing Maharashtra where a 44-day lockdown brought the infection under control to a good extent, Sudhakar appealed to the people to follow the regulations instead of loitering around unnecessarily.

To a question on the vaccination drive for people above 18 years of age, which could not take off fully from May 1 as was announced by the Central government, he said adequate stock of vaccine did not arrive due to which the drive was started symbolically by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa with the available stock of three lakh vaccines. “We have a stock of vaccines, which is not huge to meet the requirement. We will inform people once the vaccines arrive in the State,” he said.

The Health Minister said the State government has set a target to vaccinate everyone. To a question on shortage of drugs and oxygen, he said there is unnecessary panic among people who are hoarding Remdesivir vials and oxygen fearing that they would not get in case of an emergency. According to him, at least 85 per cent of the infected people remain asymptomatic whereas only five to eight per cent show moderate symptoms.