Bengaluru lockdown update: No more Sunday lockdown or night curfew

From now on Bengaluru will not have any more Sunday lockdowns or night curfew, due to their ineffectiveness in managing COVID-19 the government believes. As the city unlocks, citizens get nervous.

Bengaluru: Sanitation staff busy cleaning and disinfecting Bangalore City railway station during the extended nationwide lockdown imposed to mitigate the spread of coronavirus, on May 11, 2020.

During the pandemic so far, the Karnataka government has been looking at Sunday lockdown and night curfew as containment strategies. However, now, there will be no more lockdowns on Sundays or night curfew.

This is meant to be part of Unlock 3.0 as per the guidelines. Government offices will also be functioning without Saturday leave from now onwards.

Bengaluru to return to normalcy?

While cases in Karnataka continue to rise and the situation in Karnataka remains grim, the state government is ploughing ahead with its Unlock strategy in order to help the economy recover. However, the eagerness to return everything back the way it was has made people anxious.

According to the order signed by Vijay Bhaskar, the chief secretary, "in accordance with the unlock 3.0 guidelines from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, Sunday lockdown on 2 August has been lifted along with night curfew from 1 August between 9 pm and 5 am."

These guidelines will remain in effect till August 31st from Saturday onwards. But, not everything has opened up entirely. Swimming pools, bars, assembly halls, theatres etc. remain shut along with schools and educational institutions. Saturday leave for government staff will also be cancelled.

CM's office Krishna Bengaluru — Karnataka CM's office KrishnaIANS photos

Independence Day celebrations will be allowed to be conducted with adequate permission and social distancing. Inter-state and intra-state movement of people will not be restricted. Yoga institutions and gyms will begin functioning following August 5th.

The government maintains that in containment zones however activity may be restricted and guidelines will continue to remain in effect there. So far many have claimed that the Sunday lockdown has been ineffective in containing the spread of COVID-19 in Bengaluru. However, many have wondered whether this new unlocking system will make matters worse for the healthcare system.