Bengaluru, Oct 22: Income tax sleuths conducted a search at the residence of an auditor Somesh on Saturday.
He is one of the auditors for Energy Minister D K Shivakumar. The search began on Friday and went on till late Saturday evening.
The sleuths reportedly seized documents related to properties and transactions.
The operation was in continuation of searches at the minister’s properties in the first week of August.
Bengaluru, Apr 28: Karnataka has found that the rapid antibody test kits for COVID-19 that the Centre supplied to the state have only 47% sensitivity. The state will be returning the kits to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Karnataka had received 11,400 rapid antibody test kits from the ICMR a few days back, out of which it had sent around 200 of them to NIMHANS for validation.
After the ICMR, on Monday, sent a circular to all states to return the test kits to the suppliers, Dr CN Manjunath, Director, Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research, and nodal officer for lab testing in the state's COVID-19 task force, said, "We have cancelled the orders we placed to Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech and Zhuhai Livzon Diagnostics for one lakh rapid antibody test kits. Since the ICMR supplied us with 11,400 kits out of the 6.5 lakh kits it procured, we will be returning the kits to them."
Manjunath told said that the validation at NIMHANS revealed the kits to have only 47% sensitivity. Sensitivity is the ability of a test to identify the true-positives in a population, i.e., the actual number of people who've been infected with the disease. With the rapid antibody testing kits being shelved, the state's plan to randomly test high risk groups has taken a backseat.
So far, the state has tested 43,791 samples.
Karnataka now has 22 testing facilities -- 14 government and seven private labs. Many private labs have not tested any samples so far because of the lack of test kits (the state has made it clear that it will not provide test kits to private labs). So, getting an ICMR approval for testing has become a moot point.p
Agreeing to the setback the state's plans of ramping up testing has taken, Manjunath said, "It is true that RT-PCR test kits are in shortage. Even Pune's Mylabs had a shortage in supplying test kits. But we are relying on institutes like Kidwai, Narayana Health and Biocon's Syngene that have received approval for testing. They're big institutes and we hope that they will test a large number of samples."
On reports that the Centre has RT-PCR test kits that will last for only a week, he said, "We have test kits that will last for eight to 10 days. We have ordered for more. We are hoping to receive them before the current kits run out."
Bengaluru, Jul 31: Gyms in Bengaluru carried out sanitation work on Thursday following the Centre's nod to reopen gyms from August 5, after several weeks of COVID-induced lockdowns.
"We are taking all the precautionary measures prescribed by the government and will follow the guidelines very strictly. A thermal scanner, oximeter and hand sanitizers have been placed at the entrance of the gym.
We request all other gym owners also to follow the guidelines strictly to keep their members safe and healthy," said Prasad Kumar, a gym owner in Bangalore.
He added, "The last few months have been very difficult for us gym owners and fitness instructors. We are very grateful to the government for allowing us to re-open.
We are going to be very cautious when we open. Even before this COVID-19 pandemic, we used to sanitise all the equipment before and after every use so hopefully, this won't be too difficult for us. We are getting rid of the air conditioners to allow cross ventilation and open the space a little more."
According to Chandu Gowda, an actor and frequenter of the gym, working out at home was not the same as working out in the gym with the proper equipment.
"I'm very glad that I get to come back and work out as I used to before this lockdown. For an actor, working out is extremely important, not just for my physical health but also mental health.
Doing exercises at home is never as good as exercising in a space dedicated to one purpose. I hope other members of the gym follow the rules and regulations religiously," Gowda said.
Bengaluru, Jul 6: Criminal cases will be registered against private hospitals that refuse treatment to COVID-19 patients, Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said on Sunday.
Addressing a press conference here at Vidhana Soudha, he said: "No hospital should refuse to admit patients and if any hospital is found denying treatment criminal cases will be registered against them."
He spoke to media persons after returning from his surprise visit to Jayanagar General Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Chest Hospital responded to the questions regarding private hospitals refusing to treat covid patients.
"The government has come up with 6 different systems for treatment of COVID-19 patients. COVID care centres, government medical colleges, private medical college, government hospitals, corporate hospitals and home isolation with proper facilities and according to government guidelines," the minister added.
Dr Sudhakar gave the statistics of 4 metropolitan cities in the country including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru.
"Bengaluru's and the mortality rate is the lowest at 1.46%. The aim is to increase testing by optimal utilisation of capacity especially in private labs. Once we increase testing, it is natural that the positive cases will also increase," he said.
"So citizens need not panic due to this but should take all precautionary measures. He advised to get tested in the nearest fever clinics as soon as any symptoms like cough, fever etc are found. Guidelines regarding the home isolation will be released soon," the minister said.
He announced that 400 ambulances will be deployed in Bengaluru and 2 each for every ward.
He said that the government recommended patients at private hospitals will be provided with insurance under Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust.
"If private hospitals refuse to admit the patients, call 1912 helpline to get assistance. If admitted in Private hospital voluntarily the treatment cost will be borne by patients as per the rates fixed by the government," Sudhakar said.
He said that the cost of testing at private labs has been capped at Rs 2,200 as per test.
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