I-T raids on D K Shivakumar: A setback for Cong in Karnataka?

Bengaluru, Mar 27: Karnataka has so far witnessed 62 Covid-19 positive cases including 3 deaths and five discharges, according to mid-day bulletin released by the Department of Health and Family Welfare.

The state on Friday witnessed a sudden spike in the number of Covid-19 cases with the officials confirming seven new positive cases overnight (26 March 5:00 pm to 27 March 8:00 am) across the state including a 10-month-old baby boy becoming the youngest Covid-19 patient in Karnataka and second youngest patient in India after 8-month-old baby in Jammu and Kashmir.

According to mid-day bulletin released by the Department of Health and Family Welfare on Friday, Karnataka witnessed 62 Covid-19 positive cases including 3 deaths and five discharges. The 10-month-old baby (P56) even though had no travel history to any of the Covid-19 affected countries, officials revealed that the family members had taken the baby to Kerala and six primary contacts have been established and put under home quarantine.

This apart, a 20-year-old male (P57) who returned from Colombo, a 25-year-old female (P58) who returned from London have also been tested positive for Covid-19. Further, a 35-year-old female (P59) and 33-year-old female (P61) said to be the primary contacts of P25 (House Maid) have also been tested positive according to the officials

Besides, a 60-year-old male (P60) who returned to Sira in Tumakuru by train from New Delhi died on Friday morning also tested positive. His primary contacts, including health care professionals have been put under house quarantine. According to officials a 22-year-old male (P62) from Uttara Kannada with travel history to Dubai has also been tested positive for Covid 19 on Friday.

According to bulletin, all the patients barring P60 are being treated at designated isolation hospitals in Mangaluru, Bengaluru and Uttara Kannada. In the meantime, P1 and P3 from Bengaluru have been discharged from RGICD, according to officials.

Bengaluru, Jan 25: Several women have completed a 24-hour protest here against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and are going strong to stretch it to 48 hours.

"More than a thousand women gathered on the Masjid Road at Frazer Town to denounce the CAA and National Register of Citizens (NRC)," participant and Mount Carmel College student Noor Zahira told IANS.

The women protesters extended their support to the students in Jamia Millia Islamia, the Aligarh Muslim University, the Jawaharlal Nehru University and others who were recently roughed up allegedly by police and masked goons.

Zahira, 20, said the women's protest was planned only for 24 hours but is continuing to touch 48 hours.

Starting 3pm on Thursday, the women, several of them in burqas, niqabs and hijabs, are sitting on the road just outside the Haji Sait mosque in Frazer Town in a flash protest. Though they have informed the police, they did not wait for the permission. Around 11 pm, police arrived and shut off the protesters' loud speakers.

Zahira said already four such women's anti-CAA protests were taken out in Bengaluru. Women from all ages groups have joined the protest and are sloganeering.

As the women are protesting on the road, men are guarding them standing on the opposite road, ensuring all supplies such as food and others to them, she added.

"Muslim women were not alone in denouncing the CAA... we were joined by the transgenders, Hindu women, Christian women, Dalits and others, " she said.

Some of the protesters also indulged in creative work such as composing songs against the CAA and making placards.

Though four anti-CAA women's protests happened at the Town Hall and other landmarks in Bengaluru, they were only a few hours long.

The protesting women are also showing support to women protesters at Shaheen Bagh in Delhi who were accused of demonstrating for Rs 500. However, the protest did not align anti-CAA demonstration with any political party, keeping it apolitical.

Bengaluru, Mar 27: Oncologist Dr. Vishal Rao, HCG Hospital Bengaluru on Friday said that human body cells release interferon chemical to kill viruses but it cannot be released by cells in the case of COVID-19 cases, leading to weak immune system. However, a therapy of specific concoction could be useful in treating COVID-19 patients.

"We got hold of some preprint suggesting that interferon is effective in COVID19," said Rao.

Speaking to news agency, he continued saying "When we withdraw blood for regular check-ups, we get buffy coat which can be used to take out cells and form interferon. These two chemicals and some other cytokines, in a specific concoction, could be potentially very useful in treating COVID-19 patients."

Rao said that they have built a concoction of cytokines which can be injected to reactivate immune system in COVID-19 patients.

"We are in a very initial stage and hope to be ready with its first set by this weekend. We have applied to the governement for an expedited review. We have also presented this before the state government" said Rao.

"We have a team of infection specialist, ICU team and other...all of us have worked together to build something that we believe. We want to serve the society at this hour of need," he added.

Dr Rao clarified that this is not a vaccine and this particular interferon therapy does not help to prevent the infection of COVID-19. However, this is focused and targeted towards COVID-19 positive patients or those who have just incubated the virus.

"We believe that in early stages as well as the patients who have just incubated, this particular therapy of interferon gama and other concoction of cytokines could be an effective method. In the late stages we are looking at specific dosage of the cells which are our own body cells which can actually be affective and could also be of use for the ventilator patients," he added.

Meanwhile, Dr Gururaj, Immunologist and Scientist told ANI that they are trying to cover two aspects, one is the early stage patients where they are trying to improve their immune systems.

"As Dr Vishal said, we are trying to see whether we can use the cytokines from our own immune cells which is a natural process but it is hampered in infected patients," said Dr Gururaj.

"In the last phase we are using cells which are used from the bone marrow of the patient or donors. We can use those cells to reduce the inflation and so called cytokines release syndrome which is basically the inflammatory response of the body," he added.