The Karnataka government further relaxed the COVID-19-related restrictions allowing certain activities, including re-opening of religious places and conducting of weddings.

The relaxations would be in place for the next 15 days from July 6, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said after chairing a meeting with his Cabinet colleagues and senior officials on Saturday.

Theatres, cinemas and pubs would remain closed while swimming pools would be opened only for competitive training purpose.

Further, sports complexes and stadia shall be opened only for the purpose of practice whereas social, political, entertainment, academic, cultural, religious functions and other gatherings and large congregations have been prohibited.

Weddings and family functions are permitted with the presence of not more than 100 people. Places of worship are allowed to open only for 'darshan' not for 'sevas.'

The order said cremation and funerals would be allowed with a maximum of 20 people while public transport is allowed to operate up to its seating capacity.

"Shops, restaurants, malls, and private offices have to enforce COVID-appropriate behaviour failing which action will be initiated under the Disaster Management Act, 2005," Yediyurappa said.

Educational institutions, tutorials and colleges would remain shut until further orders, he said.

The state also announced the lifting of weekend curfew starting next week as it treads cautiously even as daily Covid cases continue to drop, reports ndtv.com. However, night curfew would continue to be in force from 9 PM to 5 AM the next day.

Deputy Commissioners of the districts, based on the assessment of the COVID situation and after consultation with the district-in-charge Minister, may impose additional containment measures, he added.

The COVID-19-related restrictions came into effect from April 27 and were made stringent from May 10 to June 14 in view of the alarming rise in the virus cases in April, which had gone beyond 50,000 cases a day while the daily fatalities exceeded 600 cases.

The active cases too went beyond six lakh.

The subsequent weeks saw a big medical emergency unfolding in the city with most of the hospitals running short of beds, oxygen and life-saving drugs.

As an effect of the lockdown, the daily cases came down significantly.

Today, 2,082 fresh cases, 86 fatalities and 48,116 active cases were reported.

The government started easing restrictions from June 14.

State's active COVID-19 cases number fall below 50,000

The number of active COVID-19 cases in Karnataka fell below 50,000 on Saturday, the tally was 48,116.

The State saw 2,082 infections and 86 deaths today taking the total cases and fatalities to 28,52,079 and 35,308 respectively, the Health Department said.

During the peak of the second wave of the virus which began in the first week of March, there were more than six lakh cases.

As many as 7,751 patients recovered in the State taking the total recoveries to 27,68,632.

Bengaluru Urban district reported 481 infections, which is the highest among all the districts of the State while there were 10 deaths.

The city has so far reported 12,15,309 infections and 15,665 deaths.

There were 19,411 active cases.

Mysuru remained as the second major COVID-19 hot spot with 227 infections and seven fatalities.

It was followed by Dakshina Kannada which reported 214 infections and 13 deaths, the highest among the districts.

According to a bulletin, 202 cases were reported in Hassan, 108 in Shivamogga, 102 in Udupi, 91 in Belagavi, 89 in Tumakuru 79 in Chikkamagaluru, 72 in Mandya and 55 in Bengaluru Rural.

Infections were reported in other districts as well and they include Kolar, Davangere, Dharwad and Uttara Kannada.

The department said there were nine deaths in Ballari, seven in Belagavi, six each in Dharwad and Mandya, four in Hassan, three each in Bengaluru Rural, Chikkaballapura, Shivamogga and Uttara Kannada.

Fatalities were reported in 11 other districts as well.

There were no fatalities in Bagalkote, Bidar, Chitradurga, Kalaburagi, Kodagu, Raichur and Yadgir.

The State conducted 1,54,655 COVID tests, including 1,18,536 RT-PCR tests and others.

So far 3.47 crore tests were done cumulatively, the department added.

As many as 2.35 crore were inoculated in the State, including 3,66,182 today.

The positivity rate and the case fatality rate for the day were 1.34 per cent and 4.13 per cent respectively, the department said.