Bengaluru: On Sunday, the Karnataka government allowed gyms to function at 50% capacity, only two days after the gyms were ordered closed due to the rising Covid-19 cases.
The order issued by chief secretary P Ravikumar states, “Several representations were received by the chief minister to relax the restriction with certain conditions… It is now decided that gyms will be allowed to remain open with the condition that the occupancy at any time cannot exceed 50% of the capacity.” The gyms must ensure strict Covid-appropriate behaviour.
Gyms must follow Covid-19 safety rules such as wearing masks, physical distancing and provision of hand sanitiser. The order read, ” the equipment shall be sanitised after every use. If there is any violation, the gym shall be closed till the Covid pandemic is over.”
Health minister K Sudhakar told, “The health department and technical advisory committee’s recommendations have been submitted to the chief minister. If we do not act based on this, we will face a huge problem in the coming days. We cannot take decisions to please a handful of people since the issue affects all 6.5 crore people of the state. So it is important to introduce curbs and also ensure that they are enforced.”
As some people are criticising him for pushing (for containment measures), he said that his first responsibility as a health minister is to safeguard the health of his people.
He added that the government is now facing difficulty in maintaining a balance between the health and livelihood of people. He said, “Keeping this in mind, the CM has given some concessions to some people, and I do not have any comments on that. As CM, he is thinking of both health and livelihood; as health minister, I’ve done my duty of informing the CM of the situation.”
He also said that people should start to wear masks and make this Covid-appropriate behaviour an indispensable part of their lives.
On relaxing the restrictions on movie theatres, he said, “As a health minister, I have to work within my limitations, the government is a big system. The CM has to balance both health and livelihood, there’s a lot of pressure on him. Even I have pressure. Schools are complaining, fans of certain actors have approached me, gym operators say they will get affected badly, and so on.”
He also added that he was not finding faults in all the complaints of the public but it was his duty to inform the CM about the analysis and recommendations made by the TAC. The first responsibility of the government is to save people and the health department plays a significant role in it.
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