Karnataka High Court quashes plea seeking prohibition on New Year celebrations as Covid cases spike

Bengaluru: Karnataka High Court on Thursday quashed the petition seeking prohibition on New Year celebration in Bengaluru in the wake of the spike in the Covid-19 and JN.1 variant cases.

The PIL was submitted by senior advocate N.P. Amrutesh.

The Division Bench headed by Justice R. Nataraj and K.V. Aravind refused to impose prohibition and opined that if the prohibition is imposed, people will move outside Bengaluru.

The government has not issued any guidelines and restrictions in this regard. There is no circumstance as such that Covid-19 could be feared presently.

The matter was adjourned to January.

As per the latest statistics released by the Department of Health and Family Welfare, 103 persons tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours. A total of 87 persons were discharged and one person died.

The Covid tests were increased to 7,262 and the positivity rate stood at 1.41 per cent. Nineteen persons were being treated in the ICU.

Bengaluru reported 80 fresh Covid cases and has 380 active cases in the city. There are 34 JN.1 cases in the state and Bengaluru accounted for 20 JN.1 cases.