Karnataka Govt Bans Religious Congregations, Caps Number Of Guests At Weddings Amid Surge In COVID Cases

Karnataka on Friday (16 April) issued fresh Covid guidelines in the wake of the exponential spurt in Covid cases, banning all religious gatherings and limiting attendees at political gatherings in open spaces to 200.

"Only 25 people will be allowed to attend last rites, while a limit of 100 people has been capped for enclosed spaces for wedding ceremonies," the circular said.

Gatherings for birthdays has been restricted to 50 persons in open spaces while in enclosed places, it should not be more than 25 persons.

These fresh guidelines came hours after Chief Minister B S Yediyurapppa chaired the Covid review meeting on Friday morning.

After this meeting, he stated that the night curfew in all the seven districts will continue as before and it will be reviewed only after 20 April.

Yediyurappa also asserted that there was no need for enforcing any lockdown or weekend lockdowns.

"Yes, cases have increased, I have gathered all the information. But the situation in Karnataka is completely different and should not be compared with other states. We have our own issues which need to be addressed. There is a need for appropriate action to be taken to curb the virus in the state. We need cooperation from people also, state machinery alone is not enough to battle the dreaded virus," he said.

At present, Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mangaluru, Kalaburagi, Bidar, Tumakuru and Udupi-Manipal are under a night curfew between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. till April 20. Notably, the curfew is limited to only these district headquarters but rural areas under these districts are exempted.

Karnataka on Friday reported 14,859 new Covid-19 cases and 78 deaths in the past 24 hours (till Thursday midnight). Bengaluru Urban accounted for 9,917 infections.

Total toll has reached 13,190, while the state's cumulative count stands at 11,24,509, with 1,07,315 active cases. A total of 10,03,985 have recovered from the disease in the state.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)