Union Minister Sadananda Gowda on Saturday said lockdown has to be extended if need be, as it has been yielding results, with major cities including Bengaluru witnessing a decline in daily Covid-19 cases. The state is currently under complete lockdown till May 24.
"Lockdowns have been successful and have yielded results, cities like Mumbai, Delhi, and Karnataka's Bengaluru are examples. There has been a decline (in Bengaluru) since the last couple of days," Gowda said. Speaking to reporters, the union minister who represents Bengaluru North parliamentary seat said, there is a need to break the chain. ".. it (lockdown) has been going on successfully, after May 24 if there is a need for it to be extended, it has to be done. We have to save lives, leading life may become difficult, governments will have to take steps to improve it," he added.
Gowda's statement came a day after Revenue Minister R Ashoka batted for the extension of the statewide lockdown, aimed at controlling the spread of the pandemic. Amid the rising Covid-19 cases in the state, the Karnataka government that had initially announced 14 days "close down" from April 27, subsequently imposed a complete lockdown from May 10 to May 24, amid continued spike in cases.
Noting that the state and central governments were ready to take all the criticism regarding Covid-19 management, Gowda said, those in the government will not get disturbed by it. "We have a responsibility and the commitment and we will have to fulfill it," he added.
Conceding that the government's action plan on vaccination got disturbed as people of all the age groups started coming in large number to take it, with the intensity of the second wave increasing, the Union Minister said necessary steps and policies will be implemented soon so that everyone gets the vaccine. Karnataka on Friday reported 41,779 new cases of Covid- 19, and 373 fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 21,30,267 and the death toll to 21,085.