Mangaluru: Modi welcome banner puts citizens in danger

Mangaluru, May 23: Criticising the Karnataka government's fresh protocol for management of Covid-19 as expensive, a prominent physician in the city has demanded its withdrawal.

According to Dr B Srinivas Kakkilaya, the protocol released by the Health and Family Welfare Department on May 15 enlists unnecessary and unconfirmed tests and treatments. 

The protocol has classified Covid-19 cases into three categories and has provided for hospitalisation of all three categories of patients, from asymptomatic to the most severely ill.

In a letter to the government, Dr Kakkilaya said: "The protocol suggests several investigations to be done right on the day of admission, including blood counts, liver and renal function tests, chest X Ray, ECG, CT scan of the chest, and other special investigations, all of which, if done, will cost Rs 25,000 per patient."

"In the coming days when lakhs of patients are likely to be infected with SARS CoV2, is it necessary and feasible to hospitalise and test all these patients at Rs 25,000 per person," he questioned.

The treatment options suggested in the protocol are also surprising, he pointed out. "The protocol recommends choloroquine, azithromycin, oseltamivir, zinc and vitamin C for all patients, from asymptomatic to the severely ill, and also anti coagulant injections for many patients. All these would cost at least Rs 5,000 per patient. For severe cases of Covid-19, many unproven and experimental treatments have been suggested, which are very expensive and highly questionable," Dr Kakkilaya notes.

Therefore, this protocol, he asserted was not evidence based and likely to do more harm than good. He said these unnecessarily expensive tests and allowing private companies to conduct trials on Covid-19 patients is likely to be misused by vested interests and must be immediately withdrawn, and instead, a protocol that is evidence-based, simple and avoiding unnecessary expenses, must be developed.

Bengaluru, Apr 30: Four ministers of Karnataka have gone into self-quarantine after they got here in touch with a video journalist of native channel who has examined optimistic for COVID-19. The listing contains state’s Deputy Chief Minister Dr Ashwath Narayan.

All 4 introduced the quarantine on Twitter.

Mr Narayan, dwelling minister Basvaraj Bommai , medical training Minister Dr. Sudhakar and tourism minister CT Ravi tweeted to say that they’ve examined detrimental for coronavirus however will likely be beneath self-quarantine.

They mentioned they got here in touch with a video journalist from a neighborhood tv channel  who was discovered COVID-19 optimistic on April 24. He had met the ministers between April 21 and April 24.

At least 40 different contacts of the video journalist, together with his household and journalists from numerous media retailers have been quarantined, reported news agency.

Earlier this month, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani put himself in quarantine after an MLA who attended a gathering with him turned out to be coronavirus-positive.

Karnataka to date had 532 circumstances of coronavirus. Of them, 215 sufferers recovered and 20 sufferers died.

Earlier immediately, the state authorities determined to chill out lockdown restrictions in plenty of districts the place the coronavirus has not had a serious affect. The authorities is permitting industries to operate in these areas with sure circumstances.

The listing contains spots in Chamarajnagar, Koppal, Chikmagaluru, Raichur, Chitradurga, Hassan, Shivamogga, Haveri, Yadgir, Kolar, Udupi, Davanagere and Kodagu districts.

Manufacturing will likely be allowed within the particular financial zones in these districts and standalone outlets exterior municipal limits will likely be allowed to operate.

Bengaluru, May 6: Karnataka has reported 20 new cases of coronavirus taking total number of cases in the state to 693.

The state health department said in a bulletin on Wednesday that 20 new cases have been confirmed for COVID-19 in the state. "The total number of cases in the state is 693," it said.

The count includes 354 patients who have been discharged and 29 patients who succumbed to the disease.

Out of the remaining cases, 303 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals while six patients are in ICU. The bulletin has also reported one death due to non-COVID cause.

The number of COVID-19 cases in the country reached 49,391, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday morning.

This includes 33,514 active cases and 1,694 deaths due to infection so far.

A total of 14,182 persons have been cured and discharged so far, according to the Health Ministry. One patient has migrated.