Local residents bring Suratkal-Kana-MRPL road to a standstill

Bengaluru, May 11: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Monday inaugurated four buses that have been converted into COVID-19 testing facilities in Bengaluru.

State Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan, Karnataka Revenue Minister R Ashoka and Member of Parliament from Bengaluru South Tejasvi Surya were also present.

"The mobile fever clinic bus initiative was taken by Sanchit Gaurav, Founder and CEO of Housejoy, in association with the Government of Karnataka, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), MP Tejaswi Surya, other partners, to increase the number of COVID tests across Bengaluru and win the fight against the virus," said KSRTC in a statement.

The bus is divided into two zones with beds and a consultation area, maintaining proper hygiene conditions.

The KSRTC said there will be four teams with four mobile bus clinics across Bengaluru - each team comprising of one doctor, three nurses and one lab technician with several volunteers facilitating the process.

The teams will be starting from red zones and will try to screen the maximum number of residents from these zones for symptoms and quarantine those who test positive.

"The testing process will start by providing free glucose, blood pressure test and COVID-19 symptoms consultation for all residents," KSRTC added.

If anyone showcases any COVID-19 symptoms, their swab will be collected immediately for testing by Biognosys Technologies (ICMR certified).

Further, the information will be provided to the government and place the person under quarantine.

"KSRTC has already initiated this mobile fever clinic buses with the association of the District Administration in Mysuru, Mandya, Tumkur, Mangaluru, Bagalkote, Hubli, Belagavi, Bengaluru and Raichur," it said.

According to the KSRTC on April 25, the cost of this clinic construction on a bus is Rs 50,000.

Bengaluru, Jul 19: A viral video claiming to show crowded condition of a hospital treating COVID-19 patients in the city was found to be false with police on Sunday arresting a person for allegedly circulating it on social media.

Police said such videos have the potential to create panic and asked people to refrain from spreading them.

The arrest was made within hours of the police announcing registration of a case in connection with the video that showed a crowd of people wearing masks at an "outpatient ward" of a hospital, falsely identified as Victoria Hospital, a major dedicated COVID facility here.

The video went viral on social media.

"City Crime Branch swiftly identified and arrested this person who has been circulating false videos of panic in Victoria Hospital, Bangalore. Kudos to all doctors and medical professionals who are doing their best. False news busted," Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao tweeted.

Police said such videos have the potential to create panic in society and asked people to refrain from it.

"Covid False video about conditions of hospitals in Bangalore circulated on social media. Case registered in Cybercrime PS. While government, society at large fighting the pandemic, some are creating/forwarding messages/videos which has potential to create panic in society. Refrain from it," Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, Sandeep Patil tweeted.

The video showed scores of people wearing masks gathered in a small space allegedly at an Out-Patient Department in a hospital, and a person filming it, claiming to be a doctor expressing concern that it was a threat to all medical staff, including the patients.

Official sources said the video was reportedly from a hospital in one of the northern states and not from Victoria Hospital.