Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar rules out stringent lockdown for now
Bengaluru, May 1: 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.
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LIVE | Election Results of five states 2026
New Delhi: The countdown has begun for the counting of votes for the Assembly elections in five states that have captured the attention of people across the country.
The counting of votes for the Assembly constituencies of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and the Union Territory of Puducherry will begin simultaneously at 8 am, and the fate of candidates in a total of 824 constituencies will be decided shortly.
The counting of postal ballots will take place first, followed by the counting of EVM votes in several rounds.
- BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari is leading in West Bengal’s Nandigram constituencyFive-state elections: Postal vote counting begins
- TMC, BJP lead in one seat each in West Bengal
- In Tamil Nadu, DMK leads in 3 constituencies, while TVK leads in 1
- UDF leads in 5 seats in Kerala, BJP in 1, LDF in 1
- BJP leads in 2 seats, AIUDF in 1 in Assam
- AINRC leads in 1 constituency in Puducherry
- TMC leads in 5 seats in West Bengal; Mamata Banerjee’s party maintains initial lead
- Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin leads in Kolathur
- BJP takes early lead in Assam
- Congress-led UDF leads in Kerala
- In Tamil Nadu, TVK chief Vijay leads in the Perambur constituency, lags in Tiruchirappalli South
- BJP leads in 10 seats in Assam
- LDF candidate V.P.P. Mustafa leads in the Thrikkaripur Assembly constituency
- Out of 294 seats in West Bengal, BJP is leading in 14 seats, TMC in 12 seats, Congress in 2 seats
- Out of 234 seats in Tamil Nadu, DMK is leading in 15 seats, AIADMK is leading in 5 seats, TVK is leading in 2 seats
- Out of 126 seats in Assam, BJP is leading in 31 seats, Congress in 4 seats, AIUDF in 2 seats.
- Out of 30 seats in Puducherry, NRC+ is leading in 3 seats, Congress in 2 seats, TVK in 1 seat.
- Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury suffers a setback in theBerhampore constituency in West Bengal.
