Jaffer Sharief laid to rest with full State honour

Bengaluru, Apr 27: As many as 345 Bengaluru-based journalists tested negative for coronavirus on Monday after undergoing a medical check-up got up for them at a hospital here, a top official said.

They had undergone the tests at the Sir C V Raman General Hospital here on April 25 and the results came out negative on Monday. They were among a total of 1,170 journalists who took the tests at the four-day medical check-up camp at the Hospital here from April 23.

"The medical check-up was done in four slots at the Hospital here from Thursday and concluded on Monday. A total of 1,170 journalists undertook the tests, 480 of them on Monday alone, the joint director of the Department of Information and Public Relation D P Muralidhar said.

The test reports of the 480 journalists may come out on Wednesday, he said. Only one journalist tested positive so far and has been admitted to the designated COVID-19 hospital, he said, adding 36 of his primary and secondary contacts have been quarantined.

Bengaluru, Apr 1: Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu on Wednesday said that 200 people, out of 342 from the state who had attended the religious gathering at Markaz building in Delhi's Nizamuddin area, have been quarantined.

"200 people including four from Bengaluru and five from Belgaum, who participated in Tablighi Jamaat (in Delhi's Nizamuddin), have been quarantined. Total 342 people from Karnataka had attended the event," Sriramulu told reporters here.

The gatherings organised by the Tablighi Jamaat at the Markaz building in Nizamuddin came into the spotlight after multiple coronavirus cases were confirmed amongst those who attended the event held in March.
Twenty-four cases were reported from the national capital alone, apart from Telangana, the union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands amongst others.

The minister had earlier said that Bengaluru Urban and Mysuru have been identified among the prime 25 COVID-19 hotspots in the country.
Chikkaballapur, since the last fourteen days, has been emerging as another hotspot, according to Sriramulu.

The total number of coronavirus cases in India has risen to 1,637 after 240 new cases were reported in the country, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, on Wednesday.

The total number of active cases rose to 1466 in the country, while 132 people have been cured and discharged after receiving treatment, as of 9 am.

Bengaluru, May 4: Booze lovers ushered in the resumption of liquor sales in a spirited fashion in Karnataka onMonday thronging stores hours before shutters went up at severalplaces and made no secret of their celebratory mood.

At some places, they flocked liquor shops even before day-break and performed "special prayers" with flowers, coconuts,incense sticks, camphor and crackers in front of the stores.

Liquor outlets had been shut in the State from March 25 following the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Excise revenue loss during the period was about Rs 2,500 crore, according to government sources.

About 4,500 standalone liquor outlets (CL-2 and CL- 11licence holders), which comprise wine stores and those owned bystate-run Mysore Sales International Limited, outside containmentzones were allowed to be opened from Monday from 9 am to 7 pm withsome restrictions.

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These include customers compulsorily wearing of facemasks andmaintaining social distancing with not more than five people inside liquor shops.

Many customers were indeed well-prepared.

At many places, they came with umbrella, raincoat, newspapers and books and queued up as early as 3 am.

At a liquor shop in Salegame Road in Hassan, the tipplers lit the traditional lamp and incense sticks, performed 'aarati'with camphor and decorated the store with the garland of flowers.

With folded hands, they all performed 'special prayers'.

In Mandya, the tipplers queued up before Martaanda liquor shop before dawn.

An hour before the sales were to resume, a few people burst crackers in celebration.

Some tipplers in Belagavi were more "enterprising."

They wentto a liquor store on Sunday night itself, performed special prayersand placed their "representatives" in the form of slippers, bags and stones in the "social distancing boxes" they themselves had drawn sothat they don't have to stand in queue in the morning.

An elderly woman Dakamma was the centre of attraction in Shivamogga.

The bent body did not bend the determination of this spirited lady, claimed to be 96-year-old, who was heard saying "liquor is goodfor health."

At the taluk headquarters town of Brahmavara in the coastal Udupi district, the queue of the booze lovers was reported to be almost half-a-kilometre.

Long queues were seen at liquor stores at Mariyappana Palya and K R Puram, among others, in Bengaluru.

The store managers too were no less cautious while dealing with customers in the COVID era.

They let the customers enter after spraying sanitisers in their hands, and allowed only those who hadworn masks and maintained social distancing.

To maintain law and order, authorities had deployed policemen in good numbers at these stores and they were seen on duty ensuring  that customers maintained social distancing.