Exempt handmade products from GST, urges CM's letter to Jaitley

Bengaluru, Jun 5: Karnataka registered its highest single-day spike of more than 500 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of infections in the state to 4,835, the health department said on Friday.

The previous biggest single-day spurt was recorded on June 2 with 388 cases.

Of the 515 fresh cases reported, 482 are returnees from other states, mostly (about 471) from neighboring Maharashtra. Udupi district saw a major spike with over 200 cases today and the total tally of the district breaching seven hundred cases mark, to stand at 768.

As of June 5 evening, cumulatively 4,835 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 57 deaths and 1,688 discharges, the department said in its bulletin.

It said, out of 3,088 active cases, 3,075 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 13 are in ICU.

On Friday, 83 patients have been discharged.

According to state COVID-19 war room data, out of the total 4,835 cases, 93 per cent (4,488 cases) are asymptomatic and 7 per cent (347) are symptomatic.

The new cases include 471 from Maharashtra, three from Delhi, two each from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Haryana, and one from Tamil Nadu.

While one is with international travel history from Indonesia. Remaining cases include- contacts of patients earlier tested positive, those from containment zones, those who travelled from other districts, and the ones whose contact history is still being traced.

Among the districts where new cases were reported, Udupi accounts for 204 cases, followed by 74 from Yadgir, Vijayapura 53, Kalaburagi 42, Bidar 39, Belagavi 36, Mandya 13, Bengaluru Rural 12, Bengaluru Urban 10, Dakshina Kannada 8, Uttara Kannada 7, three each from Hassan, Dharwad and Chikkaballapura, two each from Ramanagara and Haveri, and one each from Davangere, Bagalkote, Ballari and Kolar.

Udupi district tops the list of positive cases, with a total of 768 infections, followed by Kalaburagi 552 and Bengaluru urban 434.

Among discharges, Bengaluru urban still tops the list with total 271 discharges, followed by Davangere 147 and Mandya 146.

A total of 3,60,720 samples were tested so far, out of which 13,627 were tested on Friday alone.

So far 3,49,951 samples have reported as negative, and out of them 12,797 were reported negative on Friday.

Bengaluru, Mar 23: In the wake of the shutdown in several districts of the state to control the COVID-19 spread, Karnataka government on Monday said food would be provided free of cost through Indira Canteen for the poor who depend on daily wages for their livelihood.

The state-sponsored subsidised 'Indira Canteens' as of now serves breakfast at Rs 5 and lunch and dinner at a cost of Rs 10.

"In the interest of the poor, it has been decided to serve free food for poor. Through Indira Canteen, free food will be served for the entire day for the poor," Yediyurappa told reporters.

The Karnataka government has already announced shutdown of all commercial activities, barring essential services, in nine districts where COVID-19 cases have been reported till March 31.

They are: Bengaluru city, Bengaluru Rural, Mangaluru, Mysuru, Kalaburagi, Dharwad, Chikkaballapura, Kodagu and Belagavi.

Bengaluru, Apr 11: Karnataka Library Department’s mobile application, which is said to be the first of its kind initiative in the country has seen an exponential growth in downloads during the COVID-19 lockdown, a senior Minister said on Friday. The main reason that the application is growing is due to the heavy students demand as schools and colleges are closed during the 21-day nationwide lockdown.

Students are relying on online material for their studies as they can’t step out of the house and risk being infected.

The Library Department's efforts to keep readers active through the lockdown time, by prompting them to utilise its e-initiatives is paying off, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Suresh Kumar said.

"The app is seeing exponential increase in downloads since its launch. As many as 16,500 people have taken it; while ten thousand people have downloaded it during this brief lock down time itself," he said.

E-library mobile app was released by the library department on February 26.

There are over one lakh e-books available on department's digital platform ranging from arts, humanity, school curriculum, competitive exams and self help to classic novels - all for free for the readers.

"Its needless to say, the variety of attractive content that is available in the app is creating all the buzz among the public. Not just the books, the app contains over 600 educational videos too," the Minister said in a statement.

Considering that over 16,500 readers have downloaded the app since its launch a couple of months back, its high time, we see this domain as an opportunity for growth, he said, and stressed on the need for better adaptability approaches to the changing times.