Livemint : Apr 23, 2020, 08:15 AM
Bangluru: Nine people tested positive for covid-19 on Wednesday giving some relief to a state that had seen a spike in numbers over the last few days.The total number of cases in Karnataka increased to 427 that includes 17 deaths and 131 discharges.“The nine cases include five from Kalaburagi, two each from Bengaluru and Mysuru," S.Suresh Kumar, Karnataka’s primary and secondary education minister said on Wednesday.The cluster from the pharmaceutical company in Mysuru continues to grow and has at least 70 people currently. Out of the 1960 people tested from this particular company, 1891 had tested negative until Tuesday. However, in places like Bengaluru, there has been a significant decline in positive cases.The marginal decrease in cases came as a relief to the state that on Wednesday exempted some services to operate during the lockdown.The B.S.Yediyurappa-led Karnataka government announced to lift some restrictions on construction of public infrastructure, metro rail and limited staff allowed in Information Technology (IT) and IT enabled services among a few other sectors.The cash-starved state is hoping that it can contain the spread of the novel coronavirus that would allow it to reopen some economic activity.Kumar said that the state had fared better in terms of containing the spread of the virus.He said that Bengaluru (urban and rural) had recorded 10 covid-19 positive cases as against 3451 in Mumbai, 2081 in Delhi and 1434 in Ahmedabad.The relaxation would apply only to areas outside containment zones.Kumar said that there are 359 containment zones in Karnataka including 19 in Bengaluru.The state government has also issued orders to test policemen and journalists for covid-19.