Coronavirus - Karnataka Lifts Some Curbs Starting Thursday Amid COVID-19 Lockdown

While the Karnataka government has gone back and forth on lifting restrictions amid the COVID-19 lockdown, the latest is that from Thursday, some new activities would be permitted outside containment zones - with the conditions of social distancing and face masks.

These include all agricultural work and projects under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNAREGA), construction of metro rail lines and projects in rural areas where labourers are on site.

An earlier announcement, later amended, had allowed government offices, information technology, and biotechnology firms to open with a third of the staff. There is no mention of them in the latest order.

All educational institutions, malls, public transport will remain closed.

In one of the world's toughest lockdowns, people across the country have been forbidden from stepping out of their homes except for food and medicines until May 3 to stop the spread of coronavirus. Telangana has already announced an extension of the lockdown till May 7.

On Monday, the central government allowed some factories and businesses to open in rural India as part of a staggered exit from the shutdown that has left crores out of work and short of food even though absent staff and broken supply chains scuppered the efforts.

Nine people, including a four-month-old infant, tested positive for coronavirus, taking the number of infections to 427 in Karnataka on Wednesday. The number includes 17 deaths and 131 patients discharged.

A state health department bulletin in the evening said out of 279 active cases, 274 patients including a pregnant woman are in isolation at designated hospitals and their condition is stable. Five patients are in the intensive care unit.

The new cases include five from Kalaburagi, including the four month old child, and two each from Bengaluru urban and Nanjanagudu in Mysuru.