Has BJP started Taliban in Hinduism, asks Shashi Tharoor

Bengaluru, Jun 21: As many as 453 new coronavirus cases were confirmed on Sunday including 196 in Bengaluru alone, taking the total number of infections in Karnataka to 9,150, the Health Department said.

Five more deaths took the toll due to COVID-19 in the state to 137, a bulletin issued by the department said.

An assistant sub-inspector posted in a traffic police station died due to coronavirus on Saturday night taking the number of policemen succumbing to the contagion to three, police said.

The entire police station has been sealed for sanitisation and 25 people including five primary contacts of the deceased have been quarantined at the designated hospitals.

The total number of COVID-19 cases include 5,618 discharges, 3,391 active cases, 137 deaths, four deaths due to non-COVID causes and 77 patients admitted in Intensive Care Units.

The 196 cases confirmed in Bengaluru today is the highest single-day spike ever since the outbreak of the pandemic.

With 64 deaths so far, the city's share in the total fatalities in the state due to COVID is 47 per cent.

The five deaths reported on Sunday included three in Bengaluru.

"Yes. It is a major single day spike in Bengaluru," a health department official told P T I.

Of the total cases reported in Bengaluru, 101 are Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) and 68 are those whose contact tracing is underway.

Apart from 196 in Bengaluru, 40 cases were reported in Ballari, 39 cases each in Kalaburagi and Vijayapura, 18 each in Mysuru and Gadag, 15 in Dharwad, 14 in Bagalkote, 13 in Bidar, eight each in Davangere, Uttara Kannada and Kolar.

The five deaths reported on Sunday consisted of four men and a woman.

In view of the rising cases in Bengaluru, the Chief Secretary on Saturday formed three teams.

According to an order, Principal Secretary in Cooperative department Tushar Girinath will head the team that will ensure shifting the patients from their houses or the institutional quarantine facilities to the designated hospital.

The second team headed by the Karnataka Public Service Commission secretary G Sathyavathi will monitor the containment zone and carry out extensive surveys of people with COVID-19.

The third team is headed by Karnataka State Mineral Development Corporation managing director Naveen Raj Singh and Additional Commissioner of police Hemant Nimbalkar who will ensure social distancing at public places.

These three teams will have senior bureaucrats and top police officers as members.

Mangaluru, Jul 1: Sudarshan Moodbidri, president of Dakshina Kannada district unit of Bharatiya Janata Party escaped unhurt after the car in which he was travelling met with an accident today on the outskirts of the city. 

The car’s front portion was completely damaged in the accident. It is not yet known who was driving the car. Sources said that Sudarshan did not suffer any injury. 

The mishap occurred when the driver lost control while trying to avoid hitting a pedestrian at Mijar near Moodbidri. The car collided with an oncoming vehicle before it veered off the road and entered the roadside sludge.

Sleuths from Moodbidri station police visited the spot as part of investigation.

Bengaluru, Apr 8: Karnataka government has decided to postpone its first mass marriage ('Saptapadi') scheduled for April 26 due to lockdown in force, Minister for Muzrai, Port and Fisheries Kota Srinivas Poojary said here on Tuesday.

Talking to media here, he said that the first phase is likely to be clubbed with the second phase to be held on May 24. However, it all depends upon the situation prevailing at that time.

The state government had proposed to conduct the mass marriage scheme at select Muzrai temples in two phases on April 26 and May 24. Around 2000 applications with due documents were received for mass marriage from those who wished to tie the nuptial knot.