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Mangaluru, Jun 6: As buses in Karnataka are operating following precautionary measures issued by the government to combat COVID-19, a few bus conductors were seen working wearing protective gears resembling personal protective equipment (PPE) on Saturday.

The Karnataka government had allowed resumption of bus services in the state during the fourth phase of COVID-19 lockdown, which ended on May 31.

The private buses were also equipped with hand sanitiser for the passengers. All the passengers were seen wearing face masks and maintaining distance from each other.

One of the bus conductors, en route State bank to Shaktinagar in Mangaluru was, was seen fully covered with protective suit.  

Sudarshan, a private bus conductor, also covered his face with a face shield. "PPE kit is for our protection and it is a must to keep ourselves and our passengers safe from COVID-19. All necessary equipment, including sanitisers and masks to fight COVID-19 have been provided by our bus owner to us," Sudarshan said.

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."

Bengaluru, Mar 30: The total number of COVID-19 cases in Karnataka has climbed to 88 on Sunday after five more persons tested positive for the lethal infection.

"Five more COVID-19 cases reported in Karnataka taking positive cases in the state to 88," said the State health department.

Of the five, one is a close contact of an earlier confirmed patient and the others are workers of a pharmaceutical company in Mysuru, from where a person had tested positive, the department said.

The country is under a 21-day lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus, which according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has infected 1,071 people so far.