Kerala rain brings bountiful flow to Kabini dam

Kozhikode, Feb 28: Nearly 200 Umrah pilgrims from Kerala were deboarded from their flights to Saudi Arabia from Calicut international Airport here on Thursday after the gulf nation enforced a temporary ban on foreigners seeking to visit the holy cities of Makkah and Madina, following coronavirus scare.

Saudi Arabia halted travel to the holiest sites in Islam over fears about a viral epidemic just months ahead of the annual hajj pilgrimage, a move that came as the Mideast has over 240 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus.

According to Airports Authority of India officials, as many as 84 of passengers from the Saudi Airlines and 104 from the Spice Jet Airlines were denied permission to board the flights and travel to Saudi Arabia.

However, other passengers bound to Jeddah were permitted to fly, they said.

A private tour operator here said two batches of 40 pilgrims each were denied permission to travel to Makkah to perform Umrah on February 27.

Umrah is an Islamic pilgrimage that can be performed at any time of year.

"The pilgrims were denied entry by the two airlines, Spice Jet scheduled at 05.30 hrs and Saudi Airlines at 1130 hrs," Naiful Akbar, a travel agent said.

The Airport Authority of India sources said, "the passengers were asked to alight by the Spice Jet airline staff following an instruction received by them."

Mangaluru/Udupi, May 20: The twin districts of coastal Karnataka today reported seven new coronavirus cases. Six cases were reported from Udupi district and one from Dakshina Kannada.

All the six new coronavirus patients in Udupi have been admitted to Dr TMA Pai Covid hospital.

With the new case, 22 confirmed cases of coronavirus have been reported so far in the district, including a one death. Three have recovered, and 18 are active.

55th case in Mangaluru

The new coronavirus patient in Dakshina Kannada is a 40-year-old woman from Neermarga near Mangaluru.

With this, the total number of cases in Dakshina Kannada has risen to 55 out of which 33 are currently active.

The woman had travelled from Rajajinagar in Bengaluru along with her son to Mangaluru on May 10.

Sources said that she was residing in two houses at Kudupu and Kuttikala.

She was suffering from Asthma and respiratory problems. She was admitted to Wenlock COVID hospital on May 17.

Udupi, Jul 26: Two persons including a lady doctor have been arrested by the Kaup police in Udupi district for trying to use fake salary documents to avail loan from a bank to buy a car. 

According to police, on July 24, the doctor had visited Bank of Baroda's branch office at Kaup Moodabettu. She had approached the branch manager for a car loan for herself and her brother. She claimed that her monthly salary is Rs 2.66 lakh.

The bank verified the details furnished along with the loan application. The bank found that even though the doctor had furnished salary slips of Manipal Academy of Higher Education, she was presently not employed there.

The bank manager has filed a complaint at Kaup police station, accusing the doctor of trying to cheat the bank by availing loan on the basis of fake documents.

The police registered a case and nabbed her when she visited the Katapady branch of the same bank today. The police also arrested a man, who according to the doctor, created fake documents for her.