Centre is 90% commission govt: Siddaramaiah hits back at Modi over 10% jibe

Mangaluru, Apr 22: A staff working at the office of Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner was sent to quarantine as a precautionary measure here in the city on Wednesday.

The staff reportedly is a distant relative of a woman (native of Bantwal) who recently died due to killer Corona Virus in Wenlock Hospital, prompting the DC office to send the staff for 14-day quarantine.

According to the reports the staff had met the Doctor who was treating the woman and had inquired about her health condition on April 18.

However the staff did not meet the woman when she was in hospital as she was being treated in the ICU.

Bengaluru, Mar 31: The total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Karnataka rose to 98 on Tuesday, according to the state government.

This includes 3 deaths and 6 patients who were cured and discharged, leaving the active cases to 89.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj S Bommai said that his government has succeeded in tracking more than 24 people in Bengaluru, who attended the Tablighi Jamat event in Delhi held earlier this month.

"Over 24 people, who attended Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi, tracked in Bengaluru. We have quarantined 54 people. 8 people also in Bidar. 1 person found positive in Bidar and we have quarantined him. There are people who attended jamaat from almost all districts of the state," Bommai told news agency here.

Delhi's Nizamuddin area emerged as a hotspot after a religious meeting was held at Markaz by the Tableeghi Jamaat earlier this month, and several COVID-19 positive cases have been found among those who attended the gathering.

At least 24 people staying at Markaz building in Nizamuddin area of the national capital have tested positive for coronavirus, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Tuesday.

"All of them are being screened. We are not certain of the number but it is estimated that 1500-1700 people had assembled at the Markaz building. 1033 people have been evacuated so far - 334 of them have been sent to the hospital and 700 sent to quarantine center. A total of 24 positive cases have been found so far," he said while speaking to reporters here.

The minister also slammed the organizers of the religious event saying that they have committed a grave crime.

Karnataka on Saturday reported 12 new cases, the highest in a single day so far, taking the tally in the state to 76.

Late at night, the Mysuru district commissioner said five more people had tested positive in the district. But it was yet to be confirmed by the state health department.

Of the cases, 41 are from Bengaluru, eight from Chikkaballapur, while Uttara Kannada and Dakshina Kannada districts have seven each.

Interestingly, the highest number of patients are those from Dubai or those who had transit travel via Dubai. Out of 76 cases, 17 cases (22%) have travel history to Dubai, the capital of Emirate of Dubai and the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar, who is also in-charge of COVID-19 operations, said that Dubai has been a major concern as far as Karnataka COVID-19 patients are concerned. “Most of the positive cases have come through Dubai suggesting something amiss there,” he said. 

Echoing the same, Dr Prakash Kumar, Joint Director, Communicable Diseases, Department of Health and Family Welfare, said, “The layover in Dubai is around six to seven hours. We are seeing Dubai to be the new epicentre of the virus as far as India is concerned.”

UAE was initially not on the list of countries from where passengers were screened. It was added much later when clusters of patients with travel history to Dubai began popping up all over the country.

Patient-19 has infected the maximum so far.

Out of the 12 cases that tested positive on Saturday, five are contacts of Patient 19. All of them are being treated at a Chikkaballapur hospital. Two of them are from Hindupur, Andhra Pradesh, and three are residents of Gauribidanur taluk in Chikkabalapur district.

P19, a 31-year-old man from Chikkaballapur, had travelled to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and returned to India on March 14. Existing patient clusters suggest that P19 had infected the maximum number of people. Officials did not reveal how many people he originally travelled with to Mecca.

Amid the rise in cases, Jawaid Akhtar, Additional Chief Secretary (Health), maintained that the state had not reached stage 3. But he had no definitive answer as to how the Mysuru patient contracted the virus despite health officials he was in touch with not testing positive.

Health Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey said around 1,000 primary contacts of all positive cases have been classified as high-risk and low-risk. The high-risk patients are in government hospitals while the low-risk ones in quarantine facilities.