‘Heavens won’t fall,’ tweets Bengaluru top cop on 33-hr lockdown

In view of an exponential rise in cases in Bengaluru, the Karnataka government has imposed a 33-hour-lockdown in the city from 8 pm of Saturday (July 4) to 5 am on Monday (July 6).

“…don’t ask for exceptions as this is being done in everybody’s interest, heavens won’t fall if you postpone by a day,” is how Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao urged citizens to stay at home.

While night curfew will start from 8 pm instead of 9 pm from Monday, government offices will have a five-day week.

The state on Sunday recorded its largest single-day spike of 1,839 infections and 42 deaths, taking the total number of cases to 21,549 and deaths to 335. Bengaluru alone accounted for 1,172 cases of the lot.

The state government has also decided to raise the number of ambulances to 250 and instructed officials to have a centralized bed allocation system to help in faster admission of patients.

Wedding halls, hostels and other institutions as well as railway coaches will be converted into COVID-19 care centres as per the order of Chief Minister BS Yediuyurappa.

According to reports joint commissioners of eight regions will be given additional responsibilities.

That apart, the Centre has deployed 15 teams including public health experts, epidemiologist, and specialists to handle the situation.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), has also developed a central bed allotment system software which will be linked to 108 and 1912 emergency call services.