Bengaluru, Apr 8: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Thursday announced "night corona curfew" between 10 pm to 5 am in seven district centres of the state along with Manipal, from April 10 to 20, aimed at controlling the spread of COVID-19.

"Night corona curfew between 10 pm to 5 am every day, from April 10 to 20, will be imposed in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mangaluru, Kalaburagi, Bidar, Tumakuru, Udupi-Manipal cities.

It will be applicable in district centres," Yediyurappa said.

Speaking to reporters after a video conference chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Chief Ministers of various states on the COVID situation, he said essential services will be allowed.

"Vaccination drives will be conducted from April 11- Jyotiba Phule's birthday till April 14- Ambedkar's birthday," he added.

Appealing to people of the state, especially those from places where the curfew has been imposed for cooperation, the Chief Minister said "as corona is spreading, we have taken this measure to control it.We are not imposing any lockdown."

People should not give room for such an action (lockdown) and should wear masks, maintain social distancing, and not gather at a place, he said.

"We are trying to implement the suggestions given by the Prime Minister within this framework."

With public cooperation, the spread of virus can be contained, the chief minister said.

"...that's the reason, without imposing night corona curfew in the state, we have selected some district centres... we want to see how effective it will be, if things don't come under control, we may have to extend it to the entire state," he said.

Responding to a question, the Chief Minister said the curfew was on a trial basis and people should support it.

Marriages, functions, meetings and events will have to happen within the limitations that have been fixed, he said, adding that Rs 250 fine is being imposed for not wearing the mask and it will be made more stringent.

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Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.

The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.

Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.

The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.

India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.

In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.

Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.

The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.

It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.

Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.

The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.

The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.

On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.