Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Friday tested positive for the coronavirus and was hospitalised on the advice of doctors. Yediyurappa had earlier contracted the infection in August and was also admitted to a hospital then.
“I request all those who have come in my contact recently to be observant and exercise self-quarantine,” he tweeted.
The 78-year-old chief minister had been campaigning for the bye-polls in the state for the past few days in the north Karnataka constituencies, reported NDTV. The bye-elections will take place on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, Yediyurappa also chaired an emergency meeting with Health Minister K Sudhakar and top officials to discuss the Covid-19 situation in the state.
“There has been a worrying surge in coronavirus cases,” he told reporters after the meeting. “So we have discussed in detail for one and a half hours with our officers. We are going to take [a] final decision on 20th. Until that time, same thing will continue.”
Karnataka has reported a steep increase in coronavirus cases as the second wave of the pandemic gripped the country. On Thursday, the state registered its highest single-day infection count since the pandemic broke out in January 2020. Karnataka logged 14,738 new Covid-19 cases, taking the cases tally to 11,09,650. With 66 deaths, the toll climbed to 13,112. There are 96,561 active cases.
As many as 10,497 new cases were reported from Bengaluru Urban alone.
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