In the wake of deadly Coronavirus outbreak, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, during an emergency meeting of State Ministers and senior officials, announced that all malls, cinema halls, pubs, wedding ceremonies and other large gatherings in the state have been banned for another one week beginning this Saturday, March 14.
Karnataka government announces all schools, shopping centres, cinemas, and exhibitions to close from March 14 to March 21 due to coronavirus outbreak. The CM also announced banning all sporting events in the state.
"We have decided to take all precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the deadly disease," he said during the emergency meeting.
Retailers Association of India (RAI) responds
The Retailers Association of India (RAI) has responded to the Karnataka State Government's announcement of shutting down of malls across the state for one week.
Consumer welfare is the top priority for all retailers. And we at RAI laud the various Government bodies for doing what is needed to protect the wellbeing of the citizens of the country. We would like to support them in the various initiatives undertaken towards the same. However, we believe that in times of such stress, we have to take examples from other countries of the world wherein the items of essential needs are allowed to be sold without interruption. Allowing unrestricted access to items of daily needs will ensure that consumers do not go into a panic buying mode and create unnecessary pandemonium when there are enough items available in the market." RAI said.
1st coronavirus death in the country
Following the country's first official case of coronavirus death in Karnataka's Kalaburgi city, the district administration here initiated steps to contain the possible spread of the infection from the area where the deceased used to reside in.
A 76-year-old man from the city, who had died on Thursday, is the first confirmed COVID-19 casualty in India
District Magistrate Sharat B. Rajendra and other senior officers visited the ward no.30 in the city to oversee the precautionary measures to be undertaken for preventing the spread of the infection.
Speaking to the media, the District Magistrate said the entire area has been declared a 'restricted zone', to check the spread of infection through intensive screening and monitoring of people's movement in the locality.
District officials have advised policymakers and authorities to consider an area of five km around the containment zone, as a buffer zone for the coronavirus infection.
As a precautionary measure, a seven-day holiday has been declared for all the educational institutions in the district.
Situation in Kalaburagi
All schools and colleges in Karnataka's Kalaburagi's city have been shut for a week a day after an old man's death was confirmed to be due to coronavirus disease, an official said on Friday.
"We have directed all schools and colleges in the city to shut classes for a week, but not put off exams, as a safety measure and prevent the students from being affected by Covid-19 symptoms," Kalaburagi deputy commissioner B. Sharat told in an interview.
Kalaburagi is 575km north of Bengaluru in the southern state. Though the victim died on March 10 (Tuesday night) at a private hospital in Hyderabad, about 230km east of Kalaburagi, his infected body was brought here and buried on Wednesday as per the government guidelines.
"We have also cancelled the 'Sharana Basaveshwara jathra', a religious fair, in which thousands of people participate by joining the chariot procession in which the deity of the 12th-century Lingayat seer is taken across the city on Friday," the IAS officer said.
