Karnataka’s capital city will once again be put under a complete lockdown from July 14 to July 22. The neighbouring district of Bengaluru Rural will also be shut down.
However, essential services will be open and made available in this period, according to an official communique from the Chief Minister's Office.
"Hospitals, groceries, fruit, vegetable and grocery shops will remain open and the medical and post-graduate exams scheduled will be held," the release stated.
Though there were rumours of a lockdown in the air, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had issued vehement denials. What tipped the scale for a lockdown was a report by a high-powered committee on the alarming spike in cases in Bengaluru urban.
Bengaluru reported 1,447 Covid-19 cases on Saturday taking the total to 11,687. The city has been reporting a consistent spike in Covid cases since the start of the month.
The city has 3,181 containment zones.
Most of the cases in the official bulletin cite ‘contact under tracing’ which means that the source of the infection is unknown. The government is yet to acknowledge that there is community transmission of the virus in the city.
