India's IT hub Bengaluru hit hard by virus crisis

Karnataka has reported 47,930 new cases and 490 deaths in the last 24 hours. To curb the rising number of Covid cases in Karnataka, the government imposed a complete lockdown till 6:00 a.m. on 24 May.

Bengaluru:India on Monday reported more than 3,66,000 new coronavirus cases and 3,754 deaths over the last 24 hours, as many states imposed lockdowns to curb the spread of infections.

Particularly hard hit has been the city of Bengaluru and the wider Karnataka state.

Bengaluru, known until 2014 as Bangalore, is also the capital of India's high-tech sector and centre of the country's so-called "Silicon Valley."

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With a vibrant metropolitan area of more than 11 million people, Bengaluru is the third most populous city in India.

To curb the growing number of cases in Karnataka, the government imposed a complete lockdown starting from 6:00 a.m. Monday till 6:00 a.m. on 24 May 2021.

The government was forced to implement a full lockdown as the partial lockdown imposed in the last 15 days was not very effective.

The numbers still seen at crematoriums is evident of the increasing number of deaths in the city.

Karnataka reported 47,930 new cases and 490 deaths in the past 24 hours.

Day labourers are leaving the city in hordes in whatever mode of transport they can find - be it trains, state-run buses or private vehicles.

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The number of people arriving at quarantine centres has been on the increase.

The country's massive vaccination drive kicked off sluggishly in January when cases were low and exports of vaccines were high, with 64 million doses going overseas.

But as infections started to rise in March and April, India's exports drastically slowed down so doses went to its population.

So far, around 10% of India's population have received one shot while just under 2.5% have had both.

AP

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