Karnataka records 22 new Covid-19 cases, tally rises to 981; death toll reaches 35

Bengaluru, Apr 13: Fifteen new positive cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Karnataka, taking the total number of affected in the state to 247, the Health department said on Monday.

"Fifteen new positive cases have been reported from last evening to this noon.... Till date 247 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed. This includes 6 deaths and 59 discharges," the department said in a mid-day situation report.

Among the 15 new cases thirteen are contacts of patients already tested positive, while one from Dodabballapura in Bengaluru Rural is with a travel history to Delhi, the other from Bengaluru city has Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI).

Among the 13 contact cases tested positive four are from Hubballi in Dharwad district, three each from Malavalli in Mandya district and Raibag in Belagavi, two each from Bidar, and one from Mudhol in Bagalkote district.

Three out of 15 new cases are children- a 8 year-old girl from Malavalli in Mandya, 16-year old girl from Bidar and 14-year old boy from Raibag in Belagavi.

From across the state most number of infections have been reported in Bengaluru with 77, followed by Mysuru (48) and Belagavi (17).

Those discharged include 27 patients from Bengaluru, nine from Mysuru, seven from Dakshina Kannada, six from Chikkaballapura, three from Davangere, two each from Uttara Kannada and Kalaburagi, and one each from Udupi, Dharwad and Kodagu.

Among the dead, two are from Kalaburagi and one each from Bengaluru, Bagalkote, Gadag and Tumakuru.

The Centre’s step-motherly attitude towards Kannadigas stranded in the Gulf countries in general and Saudi Arabia in particular has prompted the Kannadigas to resort social media campaign once again.

A couple of weeks ago, Twitterati had launched a campaigned to bring back Kannadidags stranded in Saudi Arabia. A variation of the hashtag #SaudiKannadigasNeedFlights trended today. 

Trend Setters India, which has taken the twitter campaign initiative, had urged the Kannadigas around the world to join the twitter storm at 4 p.m. IST on June 15, to exert pressure on the authorities concerned. Around 7 p.m. the hashtag began trending with thousands of tweets.

Millions of Kannadigas are working in Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. They contribute greatly to the Indian economy.

Even though government of India has launched Vande Bharat Mission for the repatriation of Indians stranded across the world, it has operated only a few flights from Saudi Arabia to Karnataka so far. Thousands of Kannadigas including pregnant women, elderly people, those who have lost jobs and those who need emergency medical care are still waiting for repatriation flights from Saudi Arabia to Mangaluru and Bengaluru.