Karnataka rules out night curfew, likely to impose curbs on New Year celebrations
Bengaluru, Dec 4: The Karnataka government on Friday indicated it is likely to impose curbs on public celebrations ahead of the new year, while ruling out the possibility of night curfew for now, amid an experts' panel report expecting a second wave of COVID-19 in early 2021.
The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) for COVID-19 in the state has indicated the possibility of the second wave of the pandemic during January-February, and has recommended to ban new year public celebrations the last two weeks of this month till January 1 and to impose night curfew in the period.
Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa in response to a question from reporters about the possibility of imposing a night curfew said "..there is no such plans for now."
Health Minister K Sudhakar along with officials today held a meeting with TAC members on their advisory/recommendations to control the second wave.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Sudhakar too said, there was no question of any curfew as there is no need for it now.
But people will have to follow the guidelines like social distancing, control unnecessary large gatherings at places including marriages,he said.
Responding to a question on new year celebrations, especially at places in Bengaluru where large numbers of people gather, he said, not only Brigade or MG Road, TAC has said that in the entire state from December 20 to January 2, all kinds of events have to be prohibited, and a decision on this will be taken soon.
"When the government appointed TAC has given advice we will have to take it seriously.We will discuss with the Chief Minister and announce our final decision," he said.
On opening of pubs, bars during these days, the minister said a decision will be taken after going through the report and discussing with senior officials and consulting the Chief Minister.
The TAC, consisting of expert doctors and specialists, was constituted in March and from then till now it has held 54 meetings.
The committee has made a slew of recommendations in a bid to avert a crisis emerging out of the possible second wave after studying a similar outbreak in various places across the world.
The TAC has said the next 45 days were crucial and mentioned about the need to take certain control measures that were taken during the lockdown and unlock phase during the period, he said.
Until there is a clear vaccine, all the precautionary measures and guidelines need to be followed,he asserted.
As of December 3 evening, cumulatively 8,89,113 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 11,821 deaths and 8,52,584 discharges.
Sudhakar said the first wave of COVID-19 in the state was declining as the positivity rate has now come down to 1.2 per cent and the reproduction number (R0) has also come down to 0.46 per cent.
"So the first wave's curve has flattened... the gap between the first curve and the second curve is about 40-90 days, when we look at other countries or states..," he said.
The TAC has asked the state to keep ready by first week of January, clinical facilities at October level (when daily cases were about 10,000 per day) in terms of beds, ICUs, ventilators, and so on, both in government and private hospitals or this could be ramped up at a short notice of 2-3 days maximum.
Noting that a minimum of 1.25 lakh tests per day should continue till the end of February 2021, of which one lakh shall be RT-PCR ( 1:5 pooled in lab as per state protocol), the TAC has recommended fortnightly testing of all teachers, pupils, and staff in educational institutions, Anganwadi staff, and others by RT-PCR.
On opening of schools and pre-university colleges, the minister said a decision is likely to be taken during a meeting under the Chief Minister's leadership in December third or fourth week.
Conceding that a large number of people are gathering at political events ahead of gram panchayat polls in the state, Sudhakar said "we politicians and also all the political parties need to understand their responsibilities."
"Regarding panchayat polls I had written to the state election commission informing about the TAC's view that the polls may lead to door delivery of virus.If the elections were not held till March certain things could have been controlled.
The Commission and courts had to take this seriously," he said.
The state election commission has announced polls to 5,762 gram panchayats in the state in two phases on December 22 and 27, after the High Court recently providing three weeks time, had asked it to announce the schedule.
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Representative of Iran's Supreme Leader in India calls current situation 'no war, no peace'
Bengaluru (PTI): Representative of Iran's Supreme Leader in India, Abdul Majeed Hakeem Ilahi on Saturday characterised the ongoing tensions between his country and the Israel-US alliance as a state of “no war, no peace”.
Calling for an immediate halt to the conflict, he said the global stability hinges on those who initiated the war.
He questioned why countries affected by the war and suffering from the energy crisis are not pressuring the US and Israel to stop the aggression.
Addressing a press conference here, Ilahi said Iran did not want the conflict, but was compelled to respond amid continued attacks, even as negotiations were expected to continue.
"Iran didn't want this war, but Iran was forced by the war and several times Iran tried to avoid this war... I don't know what is the condition of these people and these countries (US-Israel)... they want to impose on other countries what they want, and who gave them this authority?" he questioned.
Recalling the negotiations Iran held in Oman, he said talks later moved to Geneva and made progress before being disrupted by sudden attacks.
Ilahi claimed that airstrikes and missile attacks led to the deaths of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ministers, commanders and civilians.
"They killed a lot of civilians… They attacked a primary school, and they killed 175 innocent girls," he said, claiming over 4,000 deaths, more than 40,000 injuries, and widespread damage to houses, hospitals, universities and public infrastructure.
Despite these losses, he said Iran resisted calls for “unconditional surrender” and stood firm and defended itself.
"They wanted unconditional surrender. Which no one—no one can accept it. Iran said, 'Okay, we are ready to be sacrificed,' but we are not ready to submit ourselves," he added.
He argued that they (US-Israel) proposed the current ceasefire only after realising that they could not achieve any of their objectives after 40 days of conflict.
The envoy further claimed that the ceasefire is not an actual ceasefire, but a “no war, no peace” situation.
Explaining the current situation in Iran, he said conditions remain stable and people are going about their daily lives.
"They are working ....(leading) their ordinary life. They are working—they're going farming and they do everything....and they aren't scared of anything. And they are ready to defend themselves," he added.
Addressing the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, he said the situation was stable before February 28 and all countries benefited from it.
"(For) 10,000 years, the Strait of Hormuz was open...and Iran daily yearly spent a lot for providing security in the Strait of Hormuz... so no one even complained anything about the Strait of Hormuz. Everyone was free...and even our enemies their warship was passing through the Strait of Hormuz," he said.
However, he linked the current maritime instability to the actions of the US and Israel.
"So Iran cannot do anything. Those people who initiated, created and started this war, they have to stop it. And everything will go back to normal," he said.
Criticising the mentality of the "great powerful country", Ilahi said, "they think they have the right to do whatever they want. It should change."
He sought to know why the countries affected by the conflict are not exerting pressure on the US and the "Zionist" regime to halt the war.
"Why are they not asking them? This crisis and problem by which a lot of countries are affected was created by them. A lot of factories are closed and even working days in some countries reduced... A lot of restaurants are closed," he said.
Seeking fairness and justice, Ilahi said instead of asking Iran, all those nations should ask those who initiated this war to stop it, by telling them, "we are suffering."
To a query on international mediation, Ilahi, referring to the US, asked, "Is it acceptable and reasonable that one country orders all countries -- you should not deal with this country, You should not purchase from this country. You should not have business with this country. You should not buy from this country."
Ilahi also highlighted Iran's long-standing ties with India and said, "It is a great country and we respect India and Indians."
"We have 5,000 years relationship and friendship. We are connected to India by education, by philosophy, by culture, by civilisation and by the economy," he said.
According to him, the bilateral cooperation remains strong, citing diplomatic engagement.
"At the moment also, our relationship, collaboration, cooperation with India is very good," he said, adding Iran allowing Indian ships to pass through Strait of Hormuz reflects the ties.
"Iran allowed Indian ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Why? A lot of countries couldn't get this permission?... The relationship between Iran and India is very good," he added.
He expressed confidence that in future too, the ties between Iran and India will be strong.
