Bengaluru civic body’s Commissioner, Manjunath Prasad clarified on Sunday that there is no question of extending the ongoing lockdown, which is set to end on July 22. Manjunath Prasad’s clarification came amid speculation that the lockdown would be extended for another fortnight in view of the increasing number of people contracting COVID-19.
The government imposed a lockdown in Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural and eight other districts in Karnataka on July 14. The lockdown ends at 5 am on July 22.
"The Chief Minister has made it clear that the lockdown will not be extended for any reason, after Tuesday there will not be any lockdown. We will follow the government's orders.
There is no question of lockdown," Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad told reporters here.
His clarification comes as speculations were rife that the lockdown may be extended for 15 days, despite Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa's statement to the contrary.
Yediyurappa had on Friday said lockdown was not the solution for controlling COVID-19 and made it clear that there was no proposal before the government to extend it.
Manjunath Prasad took over as the commissioner of the city civic body on Saturday evening.
His predecessor B H Anil Kumar, along with city Mayor M Goutham Kumar, however, had favoured extension of lockdown.
Ahead of the Chief Minister's statement, they had said that in their personal opinion lockdown for 15 days would be good, as that much time is required to break the chain.
As of July 18 evening, cumulatively 59,652 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 1,240 deaths and 21,775 discharges.
Bengaluru Urban district tops the list of positive cases, with a total of 29,621 infections.
Out of 4,537 fresh cases reported on Saturday in the state, the district alone accounted for 2,125.