Finally, cops hand over Shiroor ‘moola mutt’ to Sode Mutt

Mangaluru, May 31:  Even as the worst locust attack on India in recent years raised concerns over its impact on crops, swarms of locusts have triggered panic in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada too. 

Farmers in the coastal district were taken aback when they found the swarms of locusts, which they feared as the arrival of desert locusts in the region.

According to reports, Renjalady village under the limits of Nuji Baltila Gramp Panchayats in Kadaba taluk and Shirlalu village in Belthangady taluk witnessed locust attacks in last couple of days. 

“Locust swarms were seen in many areas. We have also alerted agriculture department. Already insects have destroyed crops of many farmers,” said a farmer in Shirlalu village.  

Joint director of Dakshina Kannada district agriculture department MC Seetha confirmed that officials have received information from villagers about the locust scare and entemologists have already visited the place to collect more information.

Not Desert Locusts?

“We contacted entemologists and forwarded the pictures that farmers sent to us. Looking at the picture, entemologists have opined that it may be calotropis locust or colour grasshopper. Desert locusts usually arrive in lakhs,” said Ms Seetha. Desert locusts that are destroying crops in other parts of India may not come to Dakshina Kannada, she added.

Bengaluru, July 22: Complete lockdown on Sundays and daily night curfew would continue across Karnataka to contain the coronavirus spread, a top officia.

"Though lockdown will be lifted from 5 am on Wednesday across the state, night curfew will continue daily from 9 pm to 5 am to restrict movement of people and vehicles. Total lockdown on Sundays will also continue on July 26 and August 2," said state Chief Secretary T.M. Vijaya Bhaskar in an order here.

The order to unlock Bengaluru and four other districts - Dakshina Kannada, Dharwad, Kalaburagi and Kodagu, which have been under 7-9 day lockdown since March 14 night came after Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa declared that lockdowns would not be re-imposed across the state hereafter.

Besides restrictions in containment areas to control the virus spread, the order banned reopening of gyms and prevented use of benches in parks by walkers or joggers.

"All vegetable and fruit markets in cities and towns across the state will be shifted to the suburbs or outskirts to decongest them and prevent crowding," said the order in Kannada.

Wearing mask, sanitising hands and maintaining social distancing will be strictly enforced and violators will be fined.

Suburban train and metro services will continue to remain shut till further orders.

Select long-distance express trains will continue to operate as per the standard operating procedure given by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on May 30.

"State-run and private buses in cities and on intra-state and inter-state routes will operate with limited number of passengers to ensure physical distancing. All buses will be sanitized and fumigated after every trip," said the order.

Schools, colleges, cinema theatres, multiplexes will remain shut to prevent crowding and violation of social distancing.

Ban on religious functions and mass gatherings will also continue.

Wuhan, Feb 6: Chinese multinational conglomerate holding company Tencent has allegedly published "real" data on the novel coronavirus deaths, with briefly listing death toll as 24,589 -- way too higher than over 500 deaths China has officially announced to date.

According to Taiwan News, "Tencent... seems to have inadvertently released what is potentially the actual number of infections and deaths, which were astronomically higher than official figures".

Tencent, on its webpage titled "Epidemic Situation Tracker," showed confirmed cases of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in China as standing at 154,023 - over 10 times the official figure given to the world on February 1.

Data leaked: Tencent lists 25,000 deaths in China, 1.54 lakh infections from coronavirus
It listed the number of suspected cases as 79,808, four times the official figure.

"The number of cured cases was only 269, well below the official number that day of 300. Most ominously, the death toll listed was 24,589, vastly higher than the 300 officially listed that day".

Once people noticed this, Tencent immediately updated the numbers to reflect the government's "official" numbers.

"Netizens noticed that Tencent has on at least three occasions posted extremely high numbers, only to quickly lower them to government-approved statistics," said the report.

Some people speculated a coding problem may be behind the real "internal" data but others believe that someone is actually trying to reveal the real numbers.

Tencent was yet to officially comment on these reports.

"According to multiple sources in Wuhan, many coronavirus patients are unable to receive treatment and die outside of hospitals."

There have been multiple reports of Wuhan officials cremating deceased coronavirus victims before they could be added to the official death toll.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the coronavirus numbers coming out of China are "fishy".

If the numbers from the alleged Tencent leak are accurate, it would put coronavirus' mortality rate at almost 16 per cent. By comparison, SARS' mortality rate was 9.6 per cent, reports CCN.

Caijing, an independent magazine based in Beijing that covers societal, political, and economic issues, has also claimed that the Communist Party of China (CCP) is underreporting the extent of the coronavirus outbreak.

Caijing's article on Coronavirus that detailed how Wuhan officials are not reporting real figures was censored in China.

As of Thursday, the official death toll in China rose to 563, with 28,018 confirmed cases.