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Bengaluru, Apr 5: Opening of Karnataka's borders to Kerala at this point in time will be like "embracing death," chief minister B S Yediyurappa said on Saturday making clear his government's stand not opening the state border.

The chief minister repeatedly said that for his government interest of the people of the state was supreme.

Yediyurappa made his stand clear in a letter to former prime minister and JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda.

Gowda had recently written to the chief minister on March 31 seeking relaxation of the border restrictions on "humanitarian" grounds.

He had also written to Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan expressing his anguish against Karnataka authorities for imposing restriction and promising to raise the matter with prime minister Narendra Modi.

Stating the decision to close the border was not sudden, Yediyurappa said, it was a conscious decision after analysing the health situation in the area following the spread of COVID-19.

The chief minister cited the Indian Medical Association, Mangaluru branch data regarding the spread of Covid-19 in Kasargod of Kerala and surrounding areas which was alarming.

Noting that the region has nearly 106 positive coronaviruscases, he said, "this is the region with most number of infections in the country."

If this restriction is removed, it puts the health of the people of Karnataka in to risk and create a situation of "embracing death", so we will not be able to open the border, Yediyurappa said.

He also clarified that there was no prejudice behind his government's decision, and the interest of the people of the state was of utmost importance.

"...There is also no political maliciousness. We want to have good and brotherly relationship with neighbouring states," he said, adding that opening the border will open a pandora's box that will be disastrous for the state.

Yediyurappa also thanked opposition parties for their support to his government in its fight against COVID-19.

Bengaluru, May 16: At least 23 new COVID-19 positive cases have emerged in the past 19 hours, raising Karnataka''s tally to 1,079, a health official said on Saturday.

"New cases reported from Friday 5 p.m. to Saturday noon are 23," said the official.

Among the 1,079 cases, 548 are active and isolated in designated hospitals across the state, 494 patients got discharged and 36 died of the virus.

In the past 19 hours, cases spiked in Benglaluru Urban, the place hosting the highest number of coronavirus cases in the state.

Of the new cases, Bengaluru Urban reported 14 cases, followed by 3 in Hassan and Mandya, Ballari, Bagalkote, Davangere, Dharwad and Udupi, 1 each.

All the 14 cases, men, from Bengaluru Urban were secondary contacts of positive case 653.

All Hassan, Dharwad and Bagalkote cases had a history of inter-state travel to Mumbai, Maharashtra, India''s largest sufferer of Covid.

A 46-year-old man from Ballari had a travel history to Ahmedabad in Gujarat, another major COVID-19 hotspot state in India.

A 40-year-old man from Mandya had inter-district travel history to Kolar and Bengaluru.

A 1-year-old infant girl from Udupi had international travel history to Dubai.

Among the new cases, 15 are contacts of earlier cases.

Of the all cases, 20 are men and three women.

Only four of the 23 cases are above 50 and 18 below 40.

Of the 1,079 cases, 12 per cent patients were senior citizens, 66 per cent men and 34 per cent women with a discharge rate of 44 per cent.

The Ayodhya police booked a senior journalist on Wednesday for raising questions on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's visit to the Ram Janmabhoomi for a religious ceremony amid the lockdown over the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The FIR mentions a tweet by Siddharth Varadarajan, editor of news portal 'The Wire', where he said: "On the day the Tablighi Jamaat event was held, Adityanath insisted a large Ram Navami fair planned for Ayodhya from March 25 to April 2 would proceed as usual and that 'Lord Ram would protect devotees from the coronavirus."

Varadarajan had clarified in another tweet that it was "Acharya Paramhans, Hindutva stalwart and head of the official Ayodhya temple trust, who said Ram would protect devotees from coronavirus, and not Adityanath, though he allowed a public event on 25/3 in defiance of the lockdown and took part himself".

Taking the suo-motu cognizance, Faizabad Kotwali police station incharge Nitish Kumar Shrivastava registered an FIR under sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 505(2) (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code for doing "disreputable" comment against the chief minister.

Statement by the Founding Editors of The Wire: pic.twitter.com/frw5oRxw18

— The Wire (@thewire_in) April 1, 2020
Reacting to it, Varadarajan termed the FIR "politically motivated, saying that the offences invoked were not even remotely made out.