Ahead of Bengaluru lockdown, hundreds rush back home

Ahead of the complete city-wide lockdown in Bengaluru starting from Tuesday evening, hundreds of people rushed back to their hometowns, an official said on Monday.

"By 11 am, 333 buses have ferried 8,938 passengers from Bengaluru. The travelling public has been advised not to panic, we have planned for a sufficient number of buses for Monday and Tuesday," said a Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) official.

According to the official, KSRTC has scheduled 800 buses a day on Monday and Tuesday. Before noon, 231 buses had already been booked for advance reservation on Monday.

During the day, hundreds of passengers, mostly migrant labourers, were seen carrying their luggage to board buses for their hometowns at KSRTC bus stations in the city.

The road transport corporation is taking all precautions such as thermal screening of the passengers and maintaining social distancing.

Meanwhile in the city, many people bought liquor in large quantities and hectic buying in long queues was witnessed at supermarkets to replenish provisions.

Alarmed by the surging Covid cases daily since July 1, the Karnataka government decided to reimpose a total lockdown in Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts from July 14 till July 22, barring essential services.

Bengaluru continues to be the ground zero of coronavirus in the southern state with 1,525 cases on Sunday, raising its total number of cases to 18,387.

As many as 62 per cent of all the active cases are centred in the city. The city is currently grappling with 14,067 active cases and accounted for the highest number of deaths at 274 across Karnataka.