Dalit youths thrashed by Bajrang Dal workers while having food at a restaurant

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 24: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said that there is no community spread or the expected phase three spread of coronavirus in the state so far but the threat continues.

Speaking to media persons here on Thursday, Vijayan said that Kasargod, Kannur, Kozhikode, and Malappuram districts will be in the red zone with full restrictions.

"All the other ten districts in the State will be in the orange zone. With the detection of new cases today, the status of Kottayam and Idukki districts have been changed from green to orange. The district administration will decide on the hotspot areas to be closed," he said.

He said there would be an increase in the number of random tests in the red zones.

"In an effort to confirm that there is no community spread in the State, random antibody tests would be conducted among health workers, police personnel, home delivery persons, volunteers and migrant labourers," he added.

The Chief Minister said that COVID-19 labs set up at the Pariyaram Government Medical College at Kannur and the Kottayam Medical College have got the approval from the ICMR for coronavirus testing. The lab at Kannur Medical College will start functioning from Friday.

The UV sterilised lab, spread over 2,200 sq ft is equipped with four real-time PCR machines. In the first phase, this lab will be able to do 15 tests per day, which will be gradually increased to conduct 60 tests in the next phase.

"With the opening of these two new labs, tests to detect COVID-19 will be conducted in 14 government labs in Kerala. Apart from this, there are two private labs also in Kerala which are doing these tests. Since the number of coronavirus cases is again increasing in the State, the government has decided to procure ten real-time PCR machines to ramp up testing," he added.

Bengaluru, Mar 26: In a second coronavirus related death in Karnataka, COVID-19 test results of a 75- year-old woman who had died on Wednesday has come out as positive, Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar said.

"I regret to inform that the COVID-19 test result has come out as positive for patient, who had succumbed to death yesterday. The govt stands committed to curb the spread of Corona Virus in the state. Please stay home, stay safe," Sudhakar tweeted on Thursday.

Health and Family Welfare Minister B Sriramulu too said the lab reports regarding the death on Wednesday have come and it has come out as positive, and death was due to COVID-19.

The exact cause of her death would be known only after the final report comes, both Minister had said on Wednesday.

The woman from Gauribidanur in Chikkaballapura district, had returned from Mecca in Saudi Arabia recently.

Sharing details about the woman, Sriramulu in a tweet on Wednesday had said, she died at Bowring hospital here at 1 am, and was suffering from diabetes, chest pain and hip fracture.

The patient was undergoing treatment in isolation ward at a hospital in Gauribidanur, later for more treatment she was shifted to Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases in Bengaluru, from where she was shifted to Bowring hospital on Tuesday," he had said.

This is the second coronavirus fatality in the state.

Earlier this month, a 76-year old Kalaburagi man died "due to co-morbidity and was also tested positive for COVID- 19", becoming the country's first coronavirus death.

Bengaluru, Jul 20: Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy has urged the Karnataka government to stop putting warning signboards in front of COVID-19 patients' houses alleging that they are leading to "social discrimination and untouchability" in the present times.

"A local government warning signboards in front of the homes of COVID-19 infected people is leading to neo-social discrimination and untouchability in the new age. Even after infection, the individual and family should live with dignity. The government should immediately stop the practice of placing signboards," Kumaraswamy's first tweet read.

"Instead of placing them in front of their homes and creating untouchability, send health workers to their homes to create courage and awareness. They should be told not to leave the house. There is no such degrading practice left behind. I would like to ask Chief Minister Karnataka BS Yediyurappa to pay attention to this," he added.

The former chief minister further said that threatening to cancel the licenses of medical colleges for refusing treatment to patients would not solve the problem and urged the government to take them into confidence instead of rebuking them.

"Refusing treatment is the fault of any hospital. But for the same reason, threatening to cancel government medical college licenses is not right. There is no profit in this emergency of health. MCI also has the power to revoke the licenses of medical colleges. Remember not the government," he said.

"In this case, the government should look to the Medical Colleges to get their services in order to get them to trust them instead of getting angry. Let them focus on meeting their needs. I insist on a collective fight against the coronavirus through this," he further added.

The COVID-19 count in Karnataka reached 63,772 on Sunday, including 39,370 active cases and 23,065 cured and discharged patients.