Former Karnataka chief minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy said mmediate shutdown should also be announced in Karnataka, "especially for Bengaluru", due to the rising COVID-19 cases in the state.In a series of tweets, Mr Kumaraswamy said that coronavirus had been spreading fast after the government unveiled the plan to "unlock" India.Stop playing with human lives. It will not serve any purpose to seal a few areas. If you care for the human lives in Bengaluru, shut down the city totally for 20 days. Else, Bengaluru will become another Brazil. People's lives are more important than the economy," he wrote in Kannada, attacking the state government.
In another post, he said: "Today India is among the countries with highest number of COVID-19 cases and the problem must be seen in conjunction with our high density of population compared to other countries." "I urge the Prime Minister to notice that the selective seal-down in containment zones has not served its purpose of arresting the pandemic and to impose a further 20 days national lock down. Lets not put economy ahead of peoples' safety (sic)," the JDS leader added. In Karnataka, more than 9,000 people have been affected by the pandemic. The state recorded a single-day spike of 249 cases on Monday. 142 patients have died so far. Bengaluru, the state's capital, has 919 active cases. Sixty-eight deaths linked to the illness have been reported from the city.