Amit Shah hints at some changes in Citizenship Act; but no sign of including Muslims

Bengaluru, Jul 3: Karnataka on Friday reported its biggest single day spike of 1,694 new COVID-19 cases, taking the taking the total number of infections in the state to 19,710, the Health department said.
The state also recorded 21 fatalities pushing the number of deaths to 293.

The day also saw 471 patients getting discharged after recovery; even as 201 patients in the state were undergoing treatment in ICU. Of the 1,694 fresh cases reported on Friday, a whopping 994 cases were from Bengaluru Urban alone.

As of July 3 evening, cumulatively 1,9710 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 293 deaths and 8,805 discharges, the Health department said in its bulletin.

It said, out of 10,608 active cases, 10,407 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 201 are in ICU.

The 21 dead include five from Bengaluru Urban, three each from Chikkaballapura and Kalaburagi, two each from Vijayapura and Shivamogga and one each from Ballari, Hassan, Davangere, Bidar, Raichur and Bengaluru Rural.

Out of 21, fourteen are men between the age 48-87 years, and seven women between 25-75 years.

Those dead include those with the history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI), Influenza-like illness (ILI), inter-state and inter-district travel and cardiac patients.

The contact history of at least four dead people is under tracing.

Out of 1,694 positive cases on Friday, contacts of the majority of the cases are still under tracing.

Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Bengaluru Urban accounted for 994, followed by 97 from Ballari

and Dakshina Kannada, Kalaburagi 72, Tumakuru 57, Bengaluru Rural 44, Dharwad 38, Mysuru 35, Mandya 33, Bidar 28, Chamarajanagara 24, Shivamogga 23, Gadag 19, sixteen each from Udupi and Kodagu, Yadgir 14, thirteen each from Hassan and Belagavi, Kolar 11.

Bengaluru Urban district tops the list of positive cases, with a total of 7,173 infections, followed by Kalaburagi (1,560) and Udupi (1,258). Among discharges, Kalaburagi tops the list with 1,143 followed by Udupi (1,093) and Yadgir (855).

A total of 6,71,934 samples have been tested so far, out of which 18,307 were tested on Friday alone.

So far 6,35,582 samples have been reported as negative, and out of them 16,290 were reported negative on Friday.

Bengaluru, Jun 15: As the central government has not allowed reopening of gyms in the country amid COVID-19 pandemic, many gymnasiums in Bengaluru are on the verge of closing or sale.

Rakshith Gowda, a gym owner and secretary of gym owners association told ANI that they are not even able to pay rent of the premises which is Rs 60,000 to 1 lakh per month.

"The condition of the owners of the gym have worsened. We have to pay a minimum of Rs 60,000 - 100,000 rent of the building and for past 4 months we couldn't pay the rent, salary to trainers and cleaners, EMI," Gowda said.

"I urge the government to take necessary steps to bring up the gym sector as they have allowed opening up of shops, temples, malls. We urge the government to take proper steps in the interest of gyms," added Gowda.

Mahesh, a gymer said that he had to participate in a competition and due to lockdown he could not work on his bodybuilding.

"I was building my body for one year and due to lockdown I couldn't do the workout, I had to take part in a competition, now I need at least another one year to build my body back," Mahesh said.

Prasad, international bodybuilder said, "Most of the bodybuilders and gym owners are running gyms by taking loans, they are not in the situation to pay their loan EMIs."

"It's very important for us to reopen gyms and run them with all precautions and guidelines but the government is not allowing us to pay our loans and many gym owners and trainers are facing a tough time to earn living. We have requested Deputy Chief Minister Govind Karjol and cabinet ministers to allow us to open, but the government hasn't taken the decision in the interest of gyms which is creating more problems for us," Prasad said.

Mangaluru: The police team investigating the case of bomb planting at the international airport here on January 20, took suspect Aditya Rao to several places in the city where he had frequented in the past few months, police said on Wednesday.

Police had earlier recovered a box from his bank locker at Udupi that contained a white powder which he claimed was cyanide. The substance has been sent to the Forensic Science laboratory for confirmation.

On further interrogation, Rao told police that he had a locker in a bank in Mangaluru also, where he was taken. Only some papers were seen in the locker, police said. He was also taken to the room where he stayed while he was working at a hotel in Balmatta here and to a hardware workshop from where he had purchased some spare parts, they said.

A 'live' explosive device was found in an unattended bag near a ticket counter of the departure gate of the airport here on January 20, triggering a scare before it was defused at a nearby open ground.

Police had released a picture of a man captured on CCTV camera as the suspect who placed the bomb and Rao later surrendered. Meanwhile, sources said the airport authorities got an anonymous call on Monday evening that a bomb had been planted in the airport. After thorough search, it was found to be a hoax. City police commissioner P S Harsha has warned of stringent action against those who make such calls.