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Bengaluru, Jun 30: Private medical colleges in Bengaluru have agreed to join hands with the Karnataka government for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

The representatives from private medical colleges have promised the state government to provide 2000 beds immediately and another 4500 beds will be added within a week.

The development took place as Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Tuesday held a second round of meeting with representatives of private hospitals at Vidhana Soudha over COVID-19. 

The Chief Minister and Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar held separate meetings with the representatives from private colleges administration and all the private colleges have assured to extend their support to the government decision. 

"There are 11 private and three government medical colleges in the city and we will get about 6500 beds from these for COVID treatment," Dr Sudhakar informed media after the meeting.

He further said, "These facilities including doctors and staff will be made available to the government within a week and the beds will be allocated to COVID patients through BBMP's centralised system. The insurance facility will be extended to the doctors and staff serving in these private hospitals also."

PG students in private medical colleges and other staff will be utilised in COVID Care Centres, the minister said.

"There will be some changes in the treatment protocols going forward. The decision regarding this will be taken in the meeting that will be held in the evening under the chairmanship of the CM," the minister explained.

According to him, symptomatic patients, persons aged above 60 years and those with comorbidities like diabetes, hypertension and serious kidney, liver, lungs and heart-related ailments will be admitted to hospitals. 

Other asymptomatic persons will be monitored in COVID care centres. Detailed notification with these guidelines will be released tomorrow, the minister said.

The meeting was chaired by CM BS Yediyurappa and Deputy CM Ashwatnarayana, Ministers Basavaraj Bommai, R Ashoka and senior officials were also present.

Kannur, Jun 21: Customs sleuths on Sunday seized 432 grams of gold worth around Rs 20 lakh from a passenger who arrived at Kannur International Airport from Dubai in Fly Dubai flight, scheduled under Vande Bharat Mission.

Customs Assistant Commissioner E Vikas-led team seized the smuggled gold from the passenger Usman of Malappuram district and detained him, sources said.

The seized gold was kept in his inner-wear.

The deadly coronavirus that entered India while there was still nip in the air has beaten rising mercury, humid conditions, unique Indian genome and has entered monsoon season with more potency as fresh cases are only breaking all records in the country.

India recorded a single-day spike of record 24,850 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, taking its total tally to 6.73 lakh corona-positive cases.

Top Indian microbiologists were hopeful in March that after the 21-day lockdown, as summer approaches, the rise in temperature would play an important role in preventing the drastic spread of COVID-19 virus in India.

Several virologists hinted that by June this year, the impact of COVID-19 would be less than what it appeared in March-April.

The claims have fallen flat as the virus is mutating fast, becoming more potent than ever.

According to experts, the novel coronavirus is a new virus whose seasonality and response to hot humid weather was never fully understood.

"The theory was based on the fact that high temperatures can kill the virus as in sterilisation techniques used in healthcare. But these are controlled environment conditions. There are many other factors besides temperature, humidity which influence the transmission rate among humans," Dr Anu Gupta, Head, Microbiologist and Infection Control, Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, told IANS.

There is no built-up immunity to COVID-19 in humans.

"Also, asymptomatic people might be passing it to many others unknowingly. New viruses tend not to follow the seasonal trend in their first year," Gupta emphasized.

Globally, as several countries are now experiencing hot weather, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a record hike in the number of coronavirus cases, with the total rising by 2,12,326 in 24 hours in the highest single-day increase since COVID-19 broke out.

So far over 11 million people worldwide have tested positive for the disease which has led to over 5,25,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The US remained the worst-hit country with over 28 lakh cases, followed by Brazil with 15.8 lakh.

According to Sandeep Nayar, Senior Consultant and HOD, Respiratory Medicine, Allergy & Sleep Disorders, BLK Super Speciality Hospital in New Delhi, whether temperature plays a role in COVID-19 infection is highly debated.

One school of thought said in the tropical regions of South Asia, the virus might not thrive longer.

"On the other hand, another school of thought has found that novel Coronavirus can survive in a hot and humid environment and tropical climate does not make a difference to the virus. According to them, this is what distinguishes the novel coronavirus from other common viruses, which usually wane in hot weather," stressed Nayar.

Not much has been studied in the past and no definite treatment or vaccine is available to date.

"Every day, new properties and manifestation of the disease come up. As of now, the only way to prevent this monster is by taking appropriate precautions. Hand hygiene, social distancing, cough etiquette and face masks definitely reduce spread of COVID-19 infection," Nayar told IANS.

Not just top Indian health experts, even Indian-American scientists had this theory in mind that sunshine and summer may ebb the spread of the coronavirus.

Ravi Godse, Director of Discharge Planning, UPMC Shadyside Pennsylvania in the US told IANS in April: "In the summer, the humidity can go up as well, meaning more water drops in the air. If the air is saturated with water and somebody sneezes virus droplets into such air, it is likely that the droplets will fall to the ground quicker, making them less infectious. So the short answer is yes, summer/sunshine could be bettera.

According to Dr Puneet Khanna, Head of Respiratory Medicine and Pulmonology, Manipal Hospital, Delhi, COVID-19 death rates are not too different in tropical countries but since the disease affected them late it was yet to show its peak in these areas.

"The virus can survive well in hot and humid countries and this is proven now," he stressed.