11-year-old boy single-handedly fights mighty python, rescues himself

Mangaluru, Jul 23: Dakshina Kannada recorded seven more deaths related to covid-19 even as the district saw a spike of 218 new coronavirus positive cases in past 24 hours. With this the total number of covid related deaths in the district mounted to 99. 

Among the seven fatalities, the first one is a 36-year-old man hailing from Davanagere. He was admitted to a private hospital on July 16, and breathed his last yesterday.He was suffering from sepsis septic shock, acute liver injury, and acute kidney injury, acute chronic pancreatitis, ARDS, and spontaneous bacterial peritonitis. 

The second victim is a 69-year-old man from Bhatkal, who was admitted to a private hospital on July 7, and passed away July 22. He suffered from heart disease, cancer, renal failure and pulmonary thromboembolism. 

The third one is a 52-year-old man from Palakkad, Kerala. He was admitted to a Wenlock hospital on July 19, and passed away on July 22. He suffered from diabetes, ARDS and respiratory issues. 

The fourth one is an 83-year-old man from Mangaluru. He was admitted to a Wenlock hospital on June 13, and passed away on July 22. He suffered from blood pressure, heart disease and pneumonia. 

The fifth one is a 73-year-old man from Mangaluru, who was admitted to a private hospital on July 21, and passed away on July 22. He was suffering from diabetes mellitus, hypertension, old cerebrovascular accident, hyponatraemia and acute on chronic kidney disease. 

The sixth one a 58-year-old woman from Mangaluru. She was admitted to a private hospital on July 11 and passed away on July 22. She was suffering from type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension. 

The seventh is a 52-year-old male from Bantwal. He was admitted to private hospital on July 21 and passed away on July 22. He was suffering from heart disease.

As per the district health bulletin, a total of 31,068 samples have been tested so far. 26,854 have turned out negative, and 4,214 are positive till date. Out of these, 2,253 cases are currently active. 1,862 persons have recovered and been discharged. Among the deceased, 12 are from other districts.

As many as 118 patients were discharged on Thursday from Wenlock as well as private hospitals. Of the 218 who tested positive on Thursday, 36 are primary contacts, 110 have ILI symptoms, 16 have SARI symptoms, and contacts of 57 are being traced.

Bengaluru, July 23: The High Court of Karnataka has directed the state government to formulate Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for child protection, particularly for cases of child pornography and child missing.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice M Nagaprasanna passed a detailed order and asked the state government to submit compliance within three months.

The division bench passed the order on two PILs, including a suo motu litigation registered in 2018. The PILs were registered to ensure effective implementation of the directions of the Supreme Court on the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (JJ Act).

The bench observed that in normal courses, courts do not issue writ of mandamus to the legislature on rule-making aspects. However, when the failure of the state is demonstrated under exceptional circumstances, courts can issue directions. The bench directed the state government to expedite the rule-making process to ensure proper implementation of the JJ Act.

The bench expressed displeasure on the insensitive police investigation in cases of child pornography. “The police machinery did not show the sensitivity expected from it while dealing with cases of alleged child pornography. Therefore, it will be appropriate if the state issues SOP or guidelines for dealing with cases of child pornography so that proper investigation is carried out in such cases. As we are directing the formation of SOP for dealing with child pornography cases, the state is also directed to formulate guidelines on child missing cases,” the bench said.

The bench had been issuing several directions since 2018 and has also been monitoring police investigations. The court observed that while the state government has incorporated several directions, some issues still remain unaddressed.

The bench directed the government to have dedicated staff for the Directorate of Integrated Child Protection Scheme considering the sensitive nature of work.

On working of Juvenile Justice Boards (JJB), the court asked the Registrar General of the Karnataka High Court to issue directions to the principal magistrates of all the JJBs in the state to sit on all working days for a minimum of six hours a day. 

The high court directed the state to exercise the rule-making powers for obtaining an annual report from the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

New Delhi, Mar 21: The Indian Railways has cancelled all train services on Sunday in view of the Janata Curfew called by prime minister Narendra Modi. All mail and express trains will stop services from 4 am to 10 pm on Sunday while all suburban train services will be reduced to a bare minimum.

Around 1,300 long-distance, mail express services will also stand cancelled in light of the curfew to bat Covid-19. These long distance trains will remain cancelled between 4 am to 10 pm on Sunday.

All passenger trains originating between the midnight of Saturday-Sunday will not be run till 10 pm, Sunday, a railway ministry official said.

However, the passenger train services already on run at 7 am on the day will be allowed to run to the destinations, a railway ministry circular to zonal railways issued on Friday said.

The Indian Railways operates around 9,000 passenger trains and 3,500 mail express services each day.

“We have sent a directive to all zonal railways, and they will get back with the total number of train services affected, by Saturday afternoon,” an official ET spoke with, said.

In his address to the nation on Thursday, the Prime Minister called for a ‘janta curfew’ between 7 am to 9 pm on Sunday, in a social-distancing drive amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Passengers alighting at enroute stations from trains already on run, and desirous of staying at the station, may be accommodated in the waiting rooms at railway stations, without overcrowding them, the circular said.

The ministry has advised zonal railways to arrange for hassle-free refund to passengers affected because of cancelled trains, while regulating train services on Sunday.

Meanwhile, to contain the spread of Covid-19, all the food plazas, jan aahar stalls have been advised to be shut until further notice by IRCTC.

The on-board catering services in mail express trains are to be closed until further advice, while static units supplying meals to prepaid trains in operation, will continue to function.