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Mangaluru, Feb 3: After neighbouring reported the second confirmed case of dreaded Coronavirus, the government of Karnataka today ordered high alert across border districts including Dakshina Kannada.

Apart from Dakshina Kannada, district administrations in Kodagu, Chamarajanagar and Mysuru that share boundary with Kerala have been put on high alert over the movement of people with suspected cases.

In a statement released on Monday, the Health and Family welfare department said that these districts have been directed to immediately report to the State Surveillance Unit (SSU) if they come across any suspected cases of people infected with Coronavirus.

Currently, about 51 people who returned from Coronavirus-affected regions have been identified and 46 are under home isolation across Karnataka.

So far, 44 samples have been sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune for analysis and out of which 29 samples have revealed negative results. Yet, the state government has put in all possible measures to check the spread of the virus in any part of the state.

The euphoria over the claim that around 3,000 tonnes of gold reserves, worth Rs 12 trillion, have been discovered in Uttar Pradesh’s Sonbhadra district could not last even 24 hours, with the Geological Survey of India (GSI) clarifying on Saturday there had been no such discovery.

The GSI, headquartered in Kolkata, rebutted the claims of the Uttar Pradesh Directorate of Geology and Mining (UPDGM), and said “miscommunication” must have led to the wrong reporting of facts.

M Sridhar, director general of the GSI, said nobody in the agency gave any such data. He said 52,806 tonnes of gold ore was found in Sonbhadra district during the exploration work in 1998-2000. From this reserve, only 160 kg of gold can be extracted.

“There must have been some miscommunication of facts because of which the gold ore deposits have been overestimated. We have written a letter to Uttar Pradesh (UPDGM), stating the facts. The GSI has not estimated such kind of vast resource of gold deposits in Sonbhadra,” Sridhar said.

ALSO READ: 2,900-tonne gold mine found in Sonbhadra, 4 times that of India's reserves

The UPDGM had said on Friday that gold deposits were found in Son Pahadi and Hardi areas of the district. Sridhar said while gold ore was found in the area during the GSI’s exploration work in 1998-2000, it had told the state government about the discovery in November last year.

Under the new regulation, which came into effect from 2015, the GSI has to inform the state government when ore deposits are discovered. Earlier, no such action was mandatory. In its report, the GSI estimated that only 3.03 gm of gold can be extracted from a tonne of ore. It also clarified that even the extraction amount was tentative and could not be established for certain.

Moreover, Sridhar said the deposits were spread across only 0.5 sq km in forest land, which made the mining of ore economically unviable. “When there are several mines nearby, we can club it into a block and then it makes sense to mine the ore. But in this case, the deposits are too small to make it viable for any company to mine it,” he said. The GSI usually prioritises its exploration work based on the needs of the Centre. While strategic minerals like tin, cobalt, lithium, beryllium, germanium, gallium, indium, tantalum, niobium, selenium, and bismuth are atop the list in GSI exploration, gold is another commodity on its priority list.

According to the World Gold Council, India has reserves of 630 tonnes of gold.

Bengaluru, May 9: The bar owners in Karnataka, while welcoming the state government's decision to allow takeaway sales of liquor, said that the move is not going to benefit them much.

Venkatesh Babu, a Bengaluru-based bar owner said, "We welcome this move, our bar was closed for two months due to coronavirus crisis. We have been facing losses since then."

"The state government has told us to sell our stocks at maximum retail price (MRP). It is difficult for us to manage as the rent is high and we also have to pay salaries," he added.

The owner of Pingara Bar and Restaurant, Shivamogga said, "The government has said that is for parcel only and that too at MRP. There is no benefit to our business. We are only clearing the existing stock. They have given us time till May 17 and are not even giving us fresh stock. We are only allowed to sell what we have already."

Karnataka government in its Friday order allowed restaurants, pubs and bars to sell liquor at retail prices from May 9 till May 17, the day the third phase of lockdown is slated to end.

Earlier, the government had allowed the opening of liquor shops in order to mobilise revenue.

However, bars, pubs, restaurants were ordered to remain closed amid the COVID-19 lockdown.