Coronavirus: Elected representatives from Bengaluru met to chalk out the way ahead
With COVID-19 cases rising in Bengaluru - a city that has so far kept its numbers much lower than cities of similar size - elected representatives from the city met to chalk out the way ahead.
"The outcome (of the meeting) - all of us need to join together and work to ensure the people get good quality care. We need to control and contain COVID-19. For that all the elected representatives need to take responsibility. Go around to all the hospitals, quarantine centres. Talk to people, health providers. The government is willing to support them and provide all facilities. Bengaluru is so far doing extremely well. It should continue to do so. We need the cooperation of all the leaders," Deputy Chief Minister Ashwath Narayan told NDTV.
The Congress's Sowmya Reddy, MLA from Jayanagar in south Bengaluru, told NDTV that the state government had the opposition's support in the fight against the virus.
"The past couple of days there has been a spike in the number of cases. So we gave our opinion on what is happening on the ground," she said. "And there has been less communication with us elected representatives. There are predictions that cases will rise next month and the month after that. So we have a bunch of different solutions - and we are saying we are going to completely support the government in fighting this pandemic. We hope we don't go to the state of what is happening in other states like Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu. We also request people to cooperate. We hope the government takes all our suggestions. And no lockdown."
The possibility of another lockdown has been in the minds of many. Ashwath Narayan said, "The opposition leaders wanted clarification on lockdown. We have clarified that there is no question of any lockdown. We need to ensure livelihood along with lives. The opposition were of a similar view."
Health Minister B Sriramulu reiterated this point. "The chief minister has clarified that there will be no lockdown in the coming days. The government is ready to take the necessary precautions," he said.
Karnataka has crossed a total of 10,000 cases with Bengaluru Urban being the district with the highest number of cases.