Facebook friend held for murdering IBM techie with laptop cord

Mangaluru, Jun 12: A huge crowd gathered for the grand opening of the newly built 175-metre-long two-lane bridge across Phalguni River on National Highway 169 near Gurupura on the outskirts of the city today.

Even as the photos of the bridge inauguration ceremony went viral on social media, netizens took the elected representatives and the district administration to task for flouting safety norms at a time when the coronavirus cases are continuing to mount in coastal Karnataka.

The bridge was completed in a record time of 15 months. Dakshina Kannada MP and State BJP President Nalin Kumar Kateel and district in-charge Minister Kota Srinivas Poojari inaugurated the bridge in the presence of Mangaluru City North MLA Y. Bharath Shetty and others.

The bridge has come as a breather to thousands of travellers between Mangaluru-Moodbidri-Karkala on the busy NH. The age-old steel bridge had become dilapidated and was a cause for concern for road users. The highway is also under the process of getting widened to four lanes.

The bridge was constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 30 crore by contractor Sudhakar Shetty of Mugrodi Construction. Work started in February last and the contractor had time till February next.

While the two-lane carriageway is 16 metres wide, the bridge has 2.5-metre-wide pedestrian paths on both the sides. New approach roads of 500 metres each were also part of the project.

Kochi, Apr 18: The Centre on Friday informed the Kerala High Court that there was no immediate plan to bring back the Indian citizens stranded in the Gulf countries due to the novel coronavirus outbreak and that the expatriates had been granted visa extension.

The counsel for the central government made the submission before a division bench comprising justices Rajavijayaraghavan and T R Ravi during the hearing of a plea seeking a direction to bring back Indians stranded in the UAE.

Permission of the Gulf countries was required to send medical teams there to carry out medical examination of the stranded Indians, the counsel said when the court sought to know the Centre's view on Kerala government sending medical teams to the Gulf countries to deal with the issue of COVID-19 disease among Malayalees there.

The court posted the plea for April 21 for consideration after the Central government informed that a similar petition is under consideration of the Supreme Court.

In its plea, Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC) in Dubai, the organisation for non-resident Indians from Kerala, sought directions to the Ministries of External Affairs and Civil Aviation to provide exemptions in the international air travel ban to bring back Indians stranded in the UAE.

The petitioners noted that those who return could be kept in quarantine as per the protocol of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Mangaluru, July 24: Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada district reported 8 new Covid-19 deaths in the last two days taking the toll to over 100. The district has recorded 107 Covid-19 deaths till now.

Deputy Commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh on Friday said a 44-year-old man from Mangaluru with the symptoms of respiratory failure, ARDS, AKI MODS hypertension, was admitted to a private hospital on July 19 and died on July 22. His throat swab tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday.

Another 56-year-old man from Mangaluru, who died on July 23, was suffering from urinary tract infection, MODS-septic shock, type II diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism, systematic hypertension and IHD and had tested positive for Covid-19.

Mangaluru saw two more deaths -- a 75-year-old woman suffering from COPD with type 2 respiratory failure and multi-organ dysfunction syndrome with septic shock and a 65-year-old woman, who was suffering from BP and diabetes and admitted to a private hospital on July 13 and died on July 23.

A 61-year-old woman from Puttur, who was suffering from diabetes mellitus and hypertension and was undergoing treatment at a private hospital, died on July 23.

A 67-year-old man from Bhadravathi in Shivamogga, who was admitted to Wenlock Hospital on July 13 and was suffering from pneumonia and respiratory infection, died on July 23. He too tested positive for Covid-19.

Some of the other deaths were those of -- a 42-year-old man from Bantwal suffering from type 1 respiratory failure, urosepsis and uncontrolled type 2 diabetes and a 67-year-old man from Bhadravathi suffering from acute myocardial infarction, uncontrolled type 2 diabetes and systematic hypertension, Both died at private hospitals on July 23.

180 fresh cases

The Covid-19 graph slightly moved downward with the recording of 180 fresh cases, including four police personnel from Puttur police station. Of the positive cases, 56 are the primary contacts of the infected persons, 68 are suffering from Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) and 10 with the symptoms of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI).

The contacts of 45 persons who tested positive are being traced. One person with international travel history has also tested positive.

A total of 125 persons recovered and were discharged from hospitals, thus taking the tally of the total discharges to 1987.