Night curfew in Karnataka from tomorrow

Health minister says no celebration in public; all outlets must shut shop before 10 pm and revellers must reach home before night curfew begins.

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: The usually exuberant New Year celebrations in the city and state, will be muted this year with the state government deciding to impose a night curfew from December 28 to January 7 from 10 pm to 5 am to check the steady rise in Omicron cases in Karnataka.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday. Briefing reporters after the meeting, Health Minister Dr K. Sudhakar said there would be no celebration in public and all outlets must shut shop before 10 pm while revellers must reach home before the night curfew begins.

Hotels, pubs and bars are allowed to operate at 50 per cent of their capacity while orchestra, DJ programmes, celebrations at apartments and the gated community on the night of December 31 are already prohibited. “All bars, hotels, pubs and restaurants will have to close business at 10 pm sharp,” said the minister hinting that there would be a crackdown if this does not happen.

As a precautionary measure to tackle any rise in Omicron cases, the health department will be adding 3,191 ICU beds to the existing 4,000 beds. Similarly 30,000 oxygenated beds will be kept ready for any emergency.

On the coming vaccination drive for those in the age group of 15-18, Dr. Sudhakar said as many as 43 lakh students would be vaccinated from January 3, 2022 as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday.