Karnataka: Autos and cabs to run on roads from Monday

Bengaluru: On Thursday, the Karnataka government gave relaxation to Bengaluru Urban and 19 other districts as they saw a dip in positivity rate below 5%. The unlock process in the districts will begin on June 14 morning.

The respite to the 20 districts includes operations of cabs and auto-rickshaws, opening if essential shops between 6 am and 2 pm, parks to stay open from 5 am to 10 am, all industries to function with 50% staff strength and street vendors can do business from 6 am to 2 pm.

However, the government is stuck on to the 7 pm-5 am curfew across the state including the 20 districts where lockdown relaxations have been given. The weekend curfew will come into effect from 7 pm on Friday to 5 am on Monday.

Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga, Davanagere, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Bengaluru Rural, Mandya, Belagavi and Kodagu are the 11 districts where strict restrictions continue to be imposed.

All industries and manufacturing units will be permitted to open with 50% of the staff, whereas, the garment industries will be permitted to operate with only 30% of the staff. The CM said construction activities will be permitted and all shops related to construction works will remain open.

Yediyurappa urged the people not to step out of their homes unless it is necessary and to abide by the Covid regulations and protocols to contain the spread of the virus.

In the last two weeks, Covid vases have shown a sharp decline. The daily positivity rate fell from 25% in mid-May to less than 5% now in the 20 districts. On Thursday, Karnataka logged 11,042 new Covid cases and 194 related fatalities. This has taken the tally to 27.4 lakh. The overall positivity rate of the state stands at 6.6% as of date.