HUBBALLI: Dharwad has been added to the districts in Karnataka where the Covid-19 lockdown will be relaxed further from June 21 to July 5.
It should be noted that Dharwad was not among the 16 districts where the lockdown relaxations were announced on Saturday, June 19. Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa had released the list of 16 districts, saying their test positivity rate (TPR) was less than 5%. Dharwad, whose TPR is 4.15% for the last seven days and 4.5% for the last 10 days, was inexplicably left out.
On Sunday, representatives of traders’ associations visited the Dharwad district in-charge minister Jagadish Shettar at his residence in Hubballi and submitted a memorandum seeking permission to open their shops. Soon after that, the minister called a meeting with Deputy Commissioner Nitesh Patil.
By afternoon, N Manjunatha Prasad, Primary Secretary, Revenue Department, and Member Secretary, State Executive Committee, separately issued an order including Dharwad under Category 1, where Unlock 2.0 will take up.
Here’s what will be allowed in the Dharwad district from Monday onwards:
• All shops will be allowed to open from morning until 5 pm.
• Dining-in will be allowed at hotels, clubs and restaurants without AC until 5 pm with 50% seating capacity.
• Intra-city and intra-state bus services will restart at 50% seating capacity.
• Lodges and resorts can open up at 50% housing capacity.
• Gyms can also open up, without AC, at 50% capacity.
What won’t reopen as yet?
• A night curfew will be in force from 7 pm to 5 am.
• A weekend curfew will be imposed from 7 pm, Friday, to 5 am, Monday.
• Swimming pools, places of worship, shopping malls, cinema theatres, air-conditioned shopping complexes and pubs will remain shut.
On Sunday, the Department of Health and Family Welfare stated that the Dharwad district had reported only 77 new coronavirus infections. The total active cases in the districts stand at 978.
