From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Aug 6: Weekend curfew will be reintroduced in the Kerala and Maharashtra border districts of Karnataka – Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu and Chamarajanagar; and Belagavi, Bidar and Kalaburgi – and the duration of night curfew will be advanced by one hour from 9 pm to 5 am instead of the present 10 pm to 5 am throughout the State with immediate effect.

The high-level committee on Covid pandemic management in the State, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai in Bengaluru on Thursday, also decided to allow reopening of the high schools for Classes 9 and 10 and also the pre-university classes from August 23.

The mandatory RTPCR testing of all those coming from neighbouring Kerala and Maharashtra into Karnataka will be continued as before.

A decision on reopening of primary schools and Class 8 of high schools will be decided at the end of the current month of August based on the then prevailing situation.

Classes for Classes 9 and 10 as well as PUC will be held on alternative days to strictly follow social distancing norms. The guidelines to be followed in conducting the classes will be issued through an official notification.

Addressing the media after the meeting, Bommai said the decisions were taken after a detailed discussion with senior officials and experts on the Covid situation in the State.

The night curfew in the State along with the weekend curfew in the border districts will be strictly enforced, the Chief Minister said pointing out that the Director General of Police has been given strict instructions in this regard.

Cabinet ministers Dr C N Ashwath Narayan and Dr K Sudhakar, who were in charge of the Covid control in the previous B S Yediyurappa ministry, experts Dr C N Manjunath, Dr Devi Prasad Shetty and Dr Sudarshan, head of the Covid Technical Advisory Committee as well as Chief Secretary P Ravi Kumar and other senior officials attended the meeting.