BJP’s star campaigner Yogi to address over 30 rallies across Karnataka

Kasaragod, Apr 1: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday announced a special action plan for Kasargod district where more people testing positive to the Coronovirous.

"The northern most district of the State has become the hot bed of Coronavirus infection with the maximum number of positive cases confirmed in Kerala," the Chief Minister told a press conference at the Government Secretariat.

“A special action plan will be implemented in Kasargod. Currently, Kasargod district has the maximum number of positive cases and also the highest number of people under hospital observation. Data from the panchayats in the district will be used to test people with symptoms and also to identify people in contact with them," he said.

Bengaluru, May 29: Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and BJP State President Nalin Kumar Kateel will resolve any differences of opinion among party leaders in Karnataka, according to Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi

If anybody has any issues, they should get them resolved by talking with Yediyurappa and Kateel. Internal matters, if any, should not be discussed in public, he said.

Angadi told reporters here on Friday that differences of opinion among party leaders have not come to his notice. A section of party leaders assembling for dinner should not be constituted as a meeting of dissidents. BJP has internal democracy and any differences of opinion if exist will be resolved at the party forum.

He added that if MLA Umesh Katti has any issues regarding cabinet berth or regarding assurances given to him by Yediyurappa during the Lok Sabha elections, he should talk with the chief minister.

Everyone in politics has aspirations and it's natural. Those aspiring for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections should talk with the chief minister or the state president, he said.

Ramesh Katti was former MP and there was nothing wrong in him being aspirant for Rajya Sabha elections, he said.

Angadi said, "Party is supreme. We shall work for the victory of party candidates irrespective of who they were".

A state cabinet meeting was held on Thursday. Many of the MLAs too had been to Bengaluru for constituency-related works. As they had been meeting after a long time, all gathered for dinner, he expressed.

Bengaluru, Apr 8: A 65-year-old man from Kalaburagi district became the fifth COVID-19 fatality in Karnataka, where six new positive cases were confirmed, pushing the tally in the state to 181, the health department said on Wednesday.

The man with Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI), died at a designated hospital in Kalaburagi on Tuesday, a day after being shifted from a private hospital where he was initially treated for two days.

"On April 4, he had got admitted to a private hospital, on April 6 he was shifted to ESI hospital, where he passed away," Primary and Secondary Education Minister Suresh Kumar told reporters here.

The private hospital had been locked and its entire medical team quarantined, he said, adding a notice had been served on it for act of "criminal negligence" (by not referring the patient to designated hospital) and will be followed with a police case.

"He was suffering from SARI, on collecting his sample, tests have revealed that he was positive....investigation is on to find how he got infected," the Minister said.

Noting that the hospital in this case did not refer the patient to the designated hospital and kept treating him for two days, he appealed to all private healthcare facilities to inform authorities if anyone showed any indications for COVID-19.

"As of 5 PM on April 8, cumulatively 181 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, it includes 5 deaths and 28 discharges," the health department said in a bulletin.

Out of the positive cases, 71 are those who had come back from foreign countries, while remaining 110 are contacts and those who had gone to Delhi, the Minister said.

Kumar also said an expert committee comprising Narayana Health founder-chairman Dr Devi Prasad Shetty and Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences director Dr C N Manjunath among others, constitutedto devise an exit strategy for the lockdown, has submitted its reports with various recommendations to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa.

The chief minister and officials were examining it which was likely to come up before the cabinet meeting on Thursday after which the details will be shared, he added.

The health department said the six fresh cases reported on Wednesday included the elderly man from Kalaburagi who died.

Among the positive cases are a woman from Uttara Kannada with history of SARI and contact of a Dubai returnee, a 72- year-old woman from Kalaburagi, who is mother of a patient that tested positive for the disease; a man from Mandya with contact to two patients.

Others include a man from Chikkaballapura with travel history to Delhi and a woman from Bengaluru also with a travel history to the national capital.

Contact tracing is in progress for all the cases, the bulletin added.

The department said out of 148 active cases in the state, 146 COVID-19 positive patients (including 1 pregnant woman) are in isolation at designated hospitals are stable and two in ICU (one each on oxygen and ventilators).

It said out of total 181 cases in the state, six are transit passengers of Kerala.

Bengaluru accounted for the highest in the state with 63 cases, followed by Mysuru (35), Dakshina Kannada (12) Bidar (ten), Uttara Kannada and Kalaburagi (9 each), Chikkaballapur (8) Belagavi (7), Ballari (6), Bagalkote (5), Mandya (4) Davangere, Bengaluru Rural and Udupi (three each), and Kodagu, Tumakuru, Gadag and Dharwad one each.

Those discharged include 16 from Bengaluru, four from Dakshina Kannada, two each from Uttara Kannada, Kalaburagi and Davangere, and one from Bengaluru Rural; while among those dead are two from Kalaburgari and one each are reported from Bengaluru, Bagalkote and Tumakuru.