Bengaluru, May 6 (IANS): Battling the pandemic's second wave, Karnatak on Thursday waived import duty on goods used for Covid containment and management in the state.

"A nodal authority has been appointed to waive import duty on relief material used for containing the virus spread in the state," said the order.

The 2-member authority is headed by Principal Secretary, Panchayat Raj, Uma Mahadevan and Panchayat Raj Commissioner Mary Francis.

"In view of the surging Covid cases in the second wave, the Central government has waived customs duty on importing free essential goods from other countries to contain the pandemic across the country," the order said, adding that those importing essential relief material have to apply to the nodal authority for exemption from customs duty on goods mentioned by the Centre in orders issued on April 20, April 24 and May 3.

According to the state Health Department bulletin, there were a record 49,058 new cases on Wednesday, taking the state's Covid tally to 17,90,104, including 5,17,075 active cases.