Bajrang Dal leader turned anti-Sangh Parivar crusader Mahendra Kumar dies of cardiac arrest

New Delhi, Jul 27: India’s coronavirus epidemic is now growing at the fastest in the world, increasing 20% over the last week to more than 14 lakh confirmed cases, according to Bloomberg’s Coronavirus Tracker.

Infections in the South Asian nation of 130 crore people have reached 14.3 lakh, including 32,771 deaths, India’s health ministry said, with daily cases close to a record 50,000 on Monday. India is only trailing the US and Brazil now in the number of confirmed infections, but its growth in new cases is the fastest.

Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are among the states where the maximum number of daily cares are being reported. The world’s second-most populous country has been ramping up testing, with 515,472 samples taken on Sunday, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research.

Still, India and Brazil have some of the world’s lowest testing rates, with 11.8 tests and 11.93 tests per 1,000 people respectively, compared to the US with 152.98 tests per 1,000 and Russia with 184.34, according to Our World in Data, a project based at the University of Oxford in the UK.

Mangaluru, July 31: Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has unveiled a campaign both on digital media and outdoor billboards on bringing awareness on the right usage of masks, social distancing and hand washing in the fight against COVID19. The campaign has received very good response and attention on social media and with the citizens of Mangaluru.

While the numbers of Covid-19 infected people were increasing and a vaccine would take some more time it was observed that norms of social distancing and other precautionary practices were thrown to the wind. Many people in Dakshina Kannada were found using masks inappropriately. Wearing a mask in a scientific way by covering both the nose and mouth is imperative to control droplets that spread the virus. We need to rise above our inconvenience to fight the virus.

Considering this the KCCI found an immediate need to bring awareness and constant reminder to people on the right usage of masks, social distancing, washing hands and other dos and don’ts to stay ahead of the virus and beat the pandemic.

A digital campaign and an outdoor advertisement campaign were planned by the chamber to remind and encourage people to follow best practices when interacting with others. 

The theme of the Campaign was decided to be “Let’s Fight Back Together” Origin Designext a Creative Agency in Mangalore was roped in to do the creative for the campaign and a team from KCCI worked with the Agency to shape up the campaign with their inputs. In the meantime Indian Red Cross Society Dakshina Kannada and Rotary Mangaluru expressed their interest to support the Campaign. 

Mangaluru based outdoor agencies like Jyothi Advertisers, Kalkura Advertisers and Gee Dee Advertisers agreed to provide outdoor space gratis to this community service campaign. Presented both in English and Kannada, the campaign has been creating waves on social media and on the street, a sign that it is being very well received by the populace of Mangalore city. 

The creative of Half Covered or Half exposed where a model is shown with a mask that exposes the nose and KA-19 v/s COVID-19 (KA-19 being the Vehicle Registration Code for the District) have been particularly making a buzz in the community. All together 14 hoardings are currently on display with various Covid-19 awareness messages. Many business houses have shown interest to participate in this public awareness campaign.

The Chamber hopes this campaign would go a long way in the fight of the city against COVID-19 and play its role in putting the pandemic behind us. “Businesses and our economy has suffered enough, we need to work together to fight this virus, we need to rise above minor inconvenience and win this war,” says Isaac Vas the President to KCCI.