India is not only for Hindus; but Ram Mandir is right of Hindus: Pejawar seer

Udupi, Jun 4: Karnataka Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakhar on Wednesday said that he will take up an issue before a high-powered committee on COVID-19 to find out the possibility of imposing lockdown on a particular house of the person infected with the virus instead of sealing down of entire areas.

Talking to reporters here on Tuesday after reviewing the district's prevailing COVID situation, the minister said the concept and modalities of declaring any area as containment zone has undergone changes in the last two months.

"Hitherto, we were declaring the entire area as the containment zone after detection of coronavirus positive cases. Subsequently, the area of the containment zone was decreased from the whole area to a particular street," the Minister said.

"Now, BJP MLA Raghupati Bhat has given a suggestion to seal down a particular house of the positive patient which would be taken up before the high-powered panel. The district administration concerned could supply all essential items to the particular family," he said.

He further said that the Union government has been providing all facilities to all the states to deal with the situation."

Bengaluru, Jul 11: Amidst the mounting number of covid-19 cases, Karnataka is witnessing another disturbing trend of increasing number of people ending their life. After the lockdown was relaxed, the state saw a worrying jump in the number of suicides.

According to statistics, as many as 2,211 suicide cases have been registered in just two months. The number of suicides rose by 23% in May to 1,127, and by another 18% in June to 1,084, from an average of 912 suicides in the first three months of the year. 

In April, however, the number nearly halved to 477. But April was also the month during which the lockdown (announced on March 24) was complete, and everyone was at home -- which, experts say, could have prevented people with suicidal tendencies from taking their own lives.

Shockingly, number of teenagers including school children committing suicide also increased in the state in past couple of months.

With the pandemic still accelerating and impacting people in multiple ways, the World Health Organisation has urged people to pay greater attention to mental health and suicide prevention. 

Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, World Health Organisation (WHO), South-East Asia Region, said stigma related to Covid-19 infection may lead to feelings of isolation and depression. Another precipitating factor impacting mental health amidst Covid-19 could be domestic violence, which is reported to have increased globally as several countries imposed lockdowns, she said.

“Hitting lives and livelihoods, the pandemic is causing fear, anxiety, depression and stress among people. Social distancing, isolation and coping with perpetually evolving and changing information about the virus has both triggered and aggravated existing and pre-existing mental health conditions, which need urgent attention,” she said.

Dr H Chandrashekar, professor and head of the department of psychiatry at Victoria Hospital, said reasons for suicide are always multi-factored, combined, cumulative, unresolving and interrelated.

“There is grief everywhere now due to deaths related to Covid-19, and it may have an adverse effect on some. But people should be watchful of their family members, especially those who are in depression and have a history of suicide attempts. One should never ignore signs, like when someone says they feel like ending their life. They should not be left alone, and unconditional support needs to be given. Also, objects that could be used to commit suicide must be kept away from them,” Dr Chandrashekar said.

Surathkal, Jan 4: The National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have signed agreementsfor joint research and development of technology for application in space, a statement said here on Friday.

As part of the agreement, which was signed by P Venkatakrishnan, Director of ISRO CBPO Division and Prof Umamaheswar Rao, Director, NITK, ISRO will establish the Regional Academic Center for Space (RACS) at NITK.