Bengaluru Police on Monday said 5,000 people were marked with stamps to indicate that they had to follow home quarantine, and added that violators of the rule will be arrested. The Union health ministry has confirmed 26 coronavirus cases in Karnataka, out of which two people have recovered, and a 76-year-old man in Kalaburagi district died.

“5,000 home quarantine stamping was carried to ensure they remain home in public interest,” tweeted Bengaluru city Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao. “I have received calls [that] some of those stamped are moving in Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses and sitting in restaurants. Please call 100, these people will be picked up, arrested and sent to government quarantine.”


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The police have said that those who have been marked should be under home quarantine for a period of 14 days. On Monday morning, Karnataka’s Health Minister B Sriramulu said one hospital in every district is dedicated to COVID-19. “We have placed an order for 1,000 ventilators,” he said, according to ANI.

The state government has suspended all commercial activities till March 31, apart from essential services in nine districts, where positive cases have been reported. The districts include Bengaluru city, Bengaluru Rural, Mangaluru, Mysuru, Kalaburagi, Dharwad, Chikkaballapura, Kodagu, and Belagavi, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said, according to PTI.

The state has also halted this year’s examinations for both the Secondary Level School Certificate and 2nd Pre-Univerity Course classes amid the effort to control the COVID-19 outbreak. The new dates for the examinations will be announced in the month of April.