Bengaluru, Apr21 (IANS): Former Karnataka Chief Minister and Janata Dal-Secular leader H. D. Kumaraswamy on Tuesday recommended the state government impose a statewide lockdown to contain the surge of Covid-19 cases.

"A lockdown should be announced immediately as it has become inevitable now," he said while attending the all-party meeting from his room in a private hospital here.

Kumaraswmay added that night curfew would not help in curtailing the spread of the infection. "Bengaluru and large towns like Kalaburagi, Mysuru, Tumakuru, Bidar, and others need to go to lock down now. We should also prohibit inter-state travel from neighbouring states. Most of our border districts have reported a surge because of this," he said.

Leader of Opposition, Siddaramaiah appealed to the state government to exert pressure on the Union government to declare Covid-19 as a "national emergency".

He also demanded the state government make testing for inter-state travellers mandatory due to the rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in the state.

"The BJP-led government should take steps to ensure panchayat elections are postponed after apprising the State Election Commission of the ongoing pandemic situation," he said.

The ministers in charge of the pandemic, headed by Health Minister K. Sudhakar, have briefed the attendees with various measures taken to contain the spread of the pandemic.