Karnataka seals borders; Bengaluru's Victoria hospital to treat Covid-19 patients exclusively

BENGALURU: Karnataka government announced of sealing its borders with six states starting from today, in an attempt to prevent movement of people from across states and contain the transmission of Covid-19.

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa made the announcement after a meeting with cabinet colleagues and subject experts to review the situation on Sunday. Although he did not give specifics of the decision including for how long the border sealing with continue, Karnataka shares it's borders with Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Goa will not see vehicular movement except for the supply of essentials. Tamil Nadu and Kerala have already shut their borders with neighbouring states.

The state government has also decided to convert the 1,700 beds Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru as a facility to exclusively serve Covid-19 infected people. "We will shift the existing patients to other hospitals and keep Victoria hospital to handle coronavirus affected patients only," Yediyurappa said.


Karnataka reported five new cases on Saturday, taking the total count to 20. Saturday saw the highest number increase in cases on a single day.