Missing PU girls from Mangaluru traced to Kerala after four days

Bengaluru, Jul 21: The total number of Covid-19 cases in Karnataka breached the 70,000 mark on Tuesday as the state reported 3,649 fresh infections, while 61 fatalities took the death toll to 1,464, the health department said.

The day also saw 1,664 patients getting discharged after recovery. Out of 3,649 fresh cases reported on Tuesday, a whopping 1,714 were from Bengaluru urban alone. As of July 21 evening, cumulatively 71,069 Covid-19 cases have been confirmed in Karnataka, which includes 1,464 deaths and 25,459 discharges, the health department said in its bulletin.

It said that out of the 44,140 active cases, 43,557 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 583 are in Intensive Care Units.

Twenty-two out of 61 deaths reported on Tuesday are from Bengaluru urban, followed by five each from Dakshina Kannada, Mysuru and Dharwad, four each from Kolar and Belagavi, three each from Hassan, Tumakuru and Haveri, Bidar 2, and one each from Chikkaballapura, Chikkamagaluru, Chamarajanagara, Gadag and Vijayapura.

Most of the deceased either had a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) or Influenza-like illness (ILI). Out of 3,649 cases tested positive on Tuesday, contacts of the large number of the cases are still under tracing.

Among the districts where new cases were reported, Bengaluru urban accounted for 1,714, Ballari 193, Dakshina Kannada 149, Mysuru 135, Yadgir 117, Uttara Kannada 109, Hassan 107, Kolar 103, followed by others.

Bengaluru urban district topped the list of positive cases, with 34,943 infections, followed by Dakshina Kannada 3,829 and Kalaburagi 2,966. Among discharges Bengaluru urban was on top with 7,476 discharges, followed by Kalabuagi 1,834 and Udupi 1,731.

A total of 10,64,734 samples were tested so far, out of which 43,904 were tested on Tuesday alone, the bulletin said. It said that 19,328 of the 43,904 samples tested today were rapid antigen tests.

Dubai: The father of a 16-year old girl who came on a visit visa to the UAE to visit him is desperate for help as she has been hospitalised, even as he has been rendered jobless.

On February 6, Amber D’Couto flew into Dubai from Mangaluru, India, along with her older sister, Alison, 19. The girls wanted to visit their dad Vivian D’Couto who was working in an automobile company at Jebel Ali.

The father was overjoyed to meet his girls until things took an ugly turn.

Two months into her stay, Amber fell seriously ill, even as D’Couto was served a termination letter by his company.

D’Couto said his daughter, a Grade 10 student, was perfectly healthly but suddenly developed high fever and began vomiting. She was rushed to a private hospital in Qusais which could not accommodate her because of the ongoing COVID-19 situation.

On April 30, she was admitted to another private hospital in the same area. After testing negative for COVID-19 thrice, she was diagnosed with acute pancreatis and Rheumatoid fever.

While the girl remains in hospital, the bill has spiralled to over Dh50,000, D’Couto said, adding that without a job now, he had no means to pay the huge amount.

“Amber is a very sweet child and a very bright student. She was living a very healthy life prior to coming to Dubai. But she is so ill now and under round-the-clock vigil in the ICU. The treatment for her condition is very specific and costly.”

A worried man, he said: “My daughter was on a visit visa and she had no insurance. We appeal to compassionate people to help us out in this difficult hour. Due to the current situation, I have lost my job and I am unable to pay for her medical expenses. Her condition has not stabilised yet and I am taking each day as it comes. I trust the doctors to help her recover, and we hope to be repatriated to India at the earliest so she can get further medical care.”

Hubballi/Vijayapura, Feb 26: A 40-year-old resident of Talikoti town in Vijayapura was arrested on Tuesday and charged with sedition for allegedly saying 'I Love Pak Army' on a social media page and sharing a video of a song, 'Pakistan Zindabad'.

Police said they registered an FIR against Meru alias Merusab Hasansab Byagwat on a complaint filed by a contractor, Ashok Rathod of Nebgiri Tanda.

Byagwat has been booked under IPC sections pertaining to sedition (124A), promoting enmity between communities and making assertions prejudicial to national integration (153 A & B), among others.

In his complaint, Rathod said Meru had posted the video on his social media account on February 22. Rathod said he took a screenshot of the video and made some inquiries before approaching police.

Police said Meru would be produced in court soon.

Police said they are keeping a watch on pro-Pakistan activities. On Monday, slogans praising Pakistan surfaced on the walls of a government primary school in Budarsinghi. In the third week of February, three Kashmiri students shot a video hailing Pakistan and circulated it on social media in Hubballi.