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Bengaluru, May 29: Seven out of ten (72 per cent) workers in Karnataka reported having lost their employment during the COVID-19-induced lockdown, according to findings of a survey by Azim Premji University, in collaboration with ten civil society organisations.

The university said in a statement it conducted "a detailed" phone survey of 5,000 workers across 12 states in the country, to gauge the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on employment, livelihoods, and access to government relief schemes.

The survey covered self-employed, casual, and regular wage and salaried workers and it released the findings for Karnataka on Thursday.

Seventy-six per cent of urban workers and 66 per cent of rural workers lost their employment, the survey findings said.

For non-agricultural self-employed workers and wage workers, who were still employed, average weekly earnings fell by two-third.

More than four in ten salaried workers (44 per cent) saw either a reduction in their salary or received no salary during the lockdown.

Six out of ten households reported that they did not have enough money to buy even a weeks worth of essential items, according to the survey.

Eight out ten households reported a reduction in food intake, while less than three in ten vulnerable households (27 per cent) in urban Karnataka received any form of cash transfer from the government, it said.

In summary, the disruption in the Karnatakas economy and labour markets is enormous. Livelihoods have been devastated at unprecedented levels during the lockdown.

The recovery from this could be slow and very painful, the statement said.

As a response to the findings of this survey, the team which has conducted the survey suggested a universalisation of the PDS to expand its reach and implementation of expanded rations for at least the next six months.

It suggested cash transfers equal to at least Rs.7000 per month for two months, and proactive steps like expansion of MGNREGA, introduction of urban employment guarantee, and investment in universal basic services, among others.

Bengaluru, Mar 27: With the numbers of COVID-19 optimistic instances rising at an alarming price in Karnataka, the state is on the verge of coming into stage three of the coronavirus epidemic. Which means that the virus is spreading to individuals who haven’t any journey historical past to Covid-19 affected international locations or contact with a COVID-19 optimistic individual with such a historical past.
Consequently, authorities in Karnataka expect a surge in optimistic instances within the coming days. This surge is probably going to come from pockets throughout the state which have a lot of coronavirus suspects, primarily individuals who have returned from Covid-19 affected international locations.

Within the parlance of the corona epidemic fighters, these pockets are referred to as clusters. Bengaluru is one massive cluster with many suspects, a lot of whom are IT professionals who lately returned from Europe, USA and Australia, and many others. The coastal belt is one other cluster, with suspects who’ve lately travelled to Center East. There are different clusters in Karnataka, the place suspects are those that returned after a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Medical schooling minister Ok Sudhakar admitted that the speed of enhance of COVID-19 positives in Karnataka is alarming. For over a month, the state had restricted the variety of optimistic instances to single digits. Nevertheless, within the final 4 days, the quantity has gone up sixfold and Karnataka now has 55 instances, the third largest variety of COVID-19 optimistic instances within the nation.

Dr Sudhakar stated the federal government was changing each authorities hospital right into a quarantine centre to accommodate any variety of optimistic instances.

“Our goal just isn’t to get right into a scenario like Italy, the place the federal government has been lowered to expressing helplessness. In subsequent 20 days, now we have to keep away from moving into such a scenario. I visited Chinnaswamy and Kanteerava stadiums and we’re working out if the stadiums will be transformed into quarantine centres, if warranted,” Dr Sudhakar stated.

The state police are struggling to implement the lockdown due to non-cooperation from some folks. They plan to rope in celebrities to ship throughout the message on social distancing.

Whereas some with home-quarantine seals are discovered roaming within the streets, some nonetheless assume the lockdown is a vacation.

“We’re roping in film stars in addition to sports activities personalities to give out a critical message on COVID-19. If the message goes dwelling, it could assist us management folks to a big extent,” he added.