Karnataka | ‘PUC results in last week of July; SSLC results in first week of August’

Bengaluru, Apr 7: The Karnataka Government indicated today that it is too early to take a call now on lifting the nation-wide lockdown but said it’s in favour of its extension in COVID-19 hotspots in the country by at least an additional two weeks.

“We need to see for another few days before taking final call,” Medical Education Minister Sudhakar K, who is in-charge of all matters related to COVID-19, told news agency Press Trust of India when asked if the State is in favour of the rollback after the 21-day period ends on April 14.

The minister opined that the decision on its withdrawal should be based on the COVID-19 pandemic situation at the time in terms of number of cases and response to the outbreak.

When the lockdown is lifted, it has to be in a staggered and phased manner, and not at one go, Mr Sudhakar stressed.

“Where there are red alerts and zones, those zones, in my opinion, should continue to be in a lockdown situation at least for two weeks…till this month-end, I will request them (the Centre) to do this,” he said.

The Telananga Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday appealed to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to extend the 21-day national lockdown imposed to contain COVID-19 outbreak beyond April 14, saying it was essential to save lives.

Mr Sudhakar said the Karnataka government is facing financial challenges because of drastic fall in revenues due to the lockdown, adding, it would take “tough decisions” to cut expenditure.

The Finance Department is in the process of evaluating the state’s fiscal position.

“Finance department is gathering information…what is the need now, what should be the overall expenditure, how much we can save; financial support for unorganised and organised sector, along with stimulus to other sectors, we have to see where we stand financially,” the minister said.

“Based on that, we have to take certain steps for sure because after all the government runs on the exchequer money. Once the exchequer is stopped because of lockdown, we are not getting GST, no motor vehicle tax. No tax money is coming.”

Government also has to run right? he said.

He said commitment and obligations with regard to paying interest on loans taken at the national and international level would have to be met.

“So, there are some financial constraints, and financial challenges before the government. The Government will take tough decisions only after studying the entire finance (position of the State).”

The Telangana government last week announced pay cut for government employees.

The Union Cabinet on Monday approved a 30 per cent cut in salaries of all Members of Parliament and a two-year suspension of the MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme.

Pune/Bengaluru, Mar 25: e-Zest Solutions and Neurosynaptic Communications today announced the ReMeDi SCAN-CORONA platform, an innovative technology solution to help control the Novel COVID-19 pandemic.
As countries worldwide grapple to contain the spread and flatten the curve while treating the ones infected, the need of the hour is to deploy widespread screening and testing procedures to identify and isolate those showing symptoms.
The ReMeDi® SCAN-CORONA platform has a three-pronged approach to controlling the pandemic that makes the task of screening, testing, tracking and reporting extremely easy and manageable at a large scale.
"Mass screening and testing is the need of the hour. With the scarcity of healthcare professionals, there is a need of technology enabled platforms to do this at a large scale with minimal to no human intervention. The ReMeDi SCAN-CORONA brings together remote healthcare expertise and the power of emerging technology such as AI & ML, and promises to reduce the load on the healthcare system, so that timely care reaches the right set of people as fast as possible," said Shree Shingane - Founder and Managing Director, e-Zest Solutions GmbH.
The solution features a Corona-Screen Kit - a portable, lightweight kit that includes basic screening tools that seamlessly connect and feed data into a Patient Health Record (PHR) system without any manual intervention.
It also features a geo-tagging powered Screening app that, by importing and analyzing data from the screening tools as well as travel and medical history. The input from a third-party COVID-19 rapid testing kit further enhances the accuracy of the outcome.
"ReMeDi SCAN-CORONA helps front-line health workers to quickly assess the essential risk factors for a person digitally. It has the unique ability to track the progression of symptoms with time. The tele-consultation facility allows individuals to obtain counselling as well as consult doctors independent of location, to access timely information and guidance. We are proud to present this solution in collaboration with e-Zest," said Sameer Sawarkar CEO - Neurosynaptic.
The beauty of this solution is that while it can bring a big relief for COVID-19 screening efforts, it is equally advantageous to heavily burdened Healthcare Providers in remotely treating the non-corona health requirements as well.
The team acknowledges the valuable contribution in terms of clinical inputs for application development, from Dr Nandakumar, a renowned public health expert.
"e-Zest vision is to leverage Healthcare technologies to impact human life positively. We are happy to be part of this collaboration & look forward to it's contribution to combat the pandemic challenge globally," said Devendra Deshmukh, e-Zest CEO.
This story is provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article.

Bengaluru, Apr 13: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa today held a review meeting with his cabinet colleagues and senior officials regarding prevailing coronavirus situation and several other important issues in the state.

Chief Secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar was also present at the meeting. The possible situation once the COVID-19 lockdown is lifted was discussed along with the financial status of the state government and how to mobilise additional resources, sources said.

The Chief Minister also appealed to sugar factory owners to clear the pending payment to the tune of Rs 2834 crore to farmers in 11 districts. He also said that the government has released Rs 45 crore compensation to farmers for loss of paddy crop in Raichur and Koppal District due to hailstorm based on a report submitted by District Collectors.

Amid the lockdown distribution of free milk to the poor will also be continued for one more week, sources added.

The meeting also decided to speed up disposal of cases related to the regularisation of unauthorised constructions which are pending before the High Court and Supreme Court.

In addition to this, the government is planning to auction more than 12,000 corner sites lying idle in Bengaluru. An amendment to the law governing permission to allow sites in private and co-operative housing societies will be made. Hundreds of societies are waiting for approval from the government for releasing the sites, sources said.

It was also decided to utilise Rs 1,000 crore available at Rajiv Gandhi Health University to upgrade medical college hospitals.