Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Sunday, July 18, 2021 announced relaxation of some measures of lockdown for the entire state with COVID-19 situation slowly getting normal. The new relaxation includes the opening of cinema hall and theatres at 50 capacity, following COVID- appropriate guidelines. Colleges both undergraduate and postgraduate institutions will be allowed to open from July 26, students and staff will be allowed to come to the colleges for physical classes only if they received only the vaccination dose of any COVID-19 vaccines. Attending physical classes will continue to be optional. The government also eased out the night curfew in the state by an hour and will take place from 10pm to 5am. This relaxation will come into action from July 19.
This decision was taken after a meeting conducted by the Chief Minister along with upper post ministers and bureaucrats. Official orders announcing these decisions and the details of the same are yet to be issued. It may be considered that the state had gone for full lockdown starting April 28.
Besides that, in preparation for an upcoming third wave, the government on Friday announced that it will train doctors and paramedics across the state “The state health department will conduct training sessions for doctors and paramedical staff in district hospital across the state for preparing them to fight the pandemic’s possible third wave,” Health Minister Dr Sudhakar K had stated to reporters.
Specifying that specialist doctors will take all the training sessions, Dr Sudhakar said that videos will be used to prepare all the health workers and frontline warrior in the fight against the Pandemic, “Measures are being taken as recommended by the expert committee headed by noted cardiologist Devi Prasad Shetty to minimize the impact of the third wave on people,” he added.
The state government hired about 4,000 doctors and upgraded the healthcare infrastructure during the pandemic’s second wave to contain the virus.
“As our state shares border with Kerala and Maharashtra, where positive cases continue to remain high, safety measures have been taken to prevent the infection from spreading into the district,” Dr Sudhakar said.
