Apple in talks with govt to manufacture iPhones in India: WSJ

Bengaluru, Jul 15: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President D K Shivakumar on Tuesday alleged Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa led state government of corruption and said it had not spared even beds and pillows meant for COVID-19 patients to make "corrupt" money.

Taking to microblogging site Twitter, Congress leader said BJP government will be exposed in the coming days.

"It is nauseating that @BSYBJP govt has not even spared the beds and pillows meant for CoVid patients to make corrupt money from. There are many such scams involving ministers. Evidences about them will be placed before people and the BJP Govt will be exposed in the coming days," he tweeted.

Cabinet minister Jagadish Shettar on Monday announced a complete lockdown in Karnataka's Dharwad area from 10 am on July 15 to 8 pm on July 24 in a bid to control the rising number of COVID-19 cases.

According to the State's health department, Karnataka has a total of 41,581 positive cases so far, including 24,572 active cases and 16,248 recoveries.

So far, 757 people have lost their lives to coronavirus in the State.

Mangaluru, Jun 3: Cyclone Nisarga did not land in Karnataka and has passed its border with heavy rains and strong winds, said an official on Wednesday.

However rains continued to lash parts of coastal Karnataka. There was no report of any casualty, the official added.

"It has already passed. We have not got any reports of fatalities. A heavy rain was expected and the deputy commissioners were alerted. Fishermen too were warned," said Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) Principal Secretary T K Anil Kumar.

Kumar said Nisarga's actual landing is in Maharashtra and the warning was given for that state and Gujarat.

"In the fringe proportion (of Karnataka), high winds were expected and fishermen were warned not to venture into the sea," he said.

Kumar said the department interacted with the deputy commissioners of Belagavi, Uttara Kannada, Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Chikkamagaluru and Shivamogga and alerted them about heavy rains.

Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre Director Srinivas Reddy said the department has kept four National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) teams on standby in Mangaluru and Kodagu for any eventuality.

The teams have been mobilized from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh.

"More rain is predicted in coastal districts. Wind speed too will be more in coastal areas," said Reddy.

According to a Met Department official, the track of Nisarga is expected to be 200-400km off Karnataka coast.

"Sudden wind speed had been reported along the coast. We had issued port warnings," said the official.

Mangaluru/Udupi: A total 237 people tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Dakshina Kannada (DK) and Udupi on Sunday, a day that DK scaled yet another peak with 196 cases and Udupi tallied 41. 

The grim reaper came calling on patients with co-morbidities, harvesting five souls, to take the total tally of deaths in DK to 46. The spurt also saw DK’s tally of positive cases rise to 2,230 and Udupi’s to 1,608.

The 196 fresh cases in DK included 91 cases of influenza like illness (ILI), the cause of infection in 57 people is yet to be known, 20 are primary contacts, 16 are those with severe acute respiratory infection (SARI), 10 are those with international travel history and two are pre-surgery samples, said deputy commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh. The five deceased include three men and two women, the youngest victim being a 50-year-old man and oldest a 72-year-old man.

A total 94 patients were discharged from the designated Covid-19 and private hospitals in the city, taking the total number those discharged to 876, and paring down the number of active cases to 1,309. The commissioner of Mangaluru City Corporation, tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Sunda. Deputy Commissioner (revenue), MCC, a primary contact, has home quarantined himself in the wake of this development.

In neighbouring Udupi, the double-digit blip on the Covid-19 radar included 32 primary contacts, six with inter-district travel history, two with inter-state travel history and one patient with international travel history, said district health officer Sudhir Chandra Sooda. The fresh cases also included four children. The discharge of 28 patients took the total numbers of those discharged to 1,273, and there are 332 active cases now. The district has recorded three deaths due to the pandemic thus far.