The Karnataka government added six more districts to ‘category 1’ of the lockdown relaxations on Monday. These districts are Udupi, Bengaluru Rural, Shivamogga, Chitradurga, Vijayapura and Ballari. This means 23 districts in the state are now in this category with maximum relaxations during the lockdown from June 21 to July 5.
The restrictions in category 1 districts are as follows.
> Shops open till 5 pm.
> Hotels open till 5 pm for dine-in at 50% capacity (without AC and excluding alcohol)
> Outdoor film shooting, sports (without spectators) are allowed.
> Buses and metro allowed to operate at 50% capacity
> Lodges, resorts, gyms allowed to operate at 50% capacity
> Government/private offices allowed to operate at 50%
Hotels and bus services resumed in these districts on Monday operating at 50% capacity. It was a big relief for office goers in Bengaluru as several depend on buses run by the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transportation Corporation (BMTC) for their daily commuting, though still many are preferring to work from home. The BMTC has said it will ply 2,000 buses that will be operated only in busy trip schedules. Metro services also resumed at 50% capacity.
The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation will also restart bus operations to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana from June 22 with 50% seating capacity. Services to Andhra Pradesh State will be operated from 6.00 am so as to reach within 6.00 pm.
Hotels, clubs and restaurants without air conditioning have opened for service but without liquor supply until 5 pm with 50 % seating, while gyms began functioning at half capacity and parks opened from 5 am to 6 pm for walking and jogging. Those facilities that continue to remain shut are swimming pools, places of worship, political events, educational institutions, shopping malls, pubs and amusement parks.
There are some restrictions which will be applicable across the state, such as curfew will be in place between 7 pm and 5 am on weekdays while during weekends curfew will be enforced from 7 pm on Friday to 5 am on Monday throughout the state. Mysuru, where the positivity rate is high, will remain under a strict lockdown until July 5.