Maulana Muhammad Shafi, father of Abdussalam Puthige, passes away

Bengaluru, May 22: Karnataka government on Thursday announced that weddings scheduled for May 24 and May 31 are exempted from complete lockdown on Sundays.

As per an earlier advisory issued by the State government with regard to weddings, not more than 50 guests shall be allowed and the consumption of liquor on the occasion will be prohibited.

According to the advisory, sanitisers should be provided at the entry and other appropriate places at the venue. Also, thermal screening of all persons shall be conducted at the entry of the venue. The scanner should be held 3-15 cms away from a person's forehead.

Apart from this, the venue shall be "clean and hygienic," and a "nodal person shall be identified for overseeing the arrangements and coordination at the venue."

Also, a list of attendees with contact details has to be maintained and all guests should have downloaded Aarogya Setu app.

Mangaluru/ Udupi, June 19: As many as 13 fresh coronavirus positive cases were reported in Dakshina Kannada on June 19, taking the total number of cases in the coastal district to 414. In Udupi, the total number of covid cases mounted to 1,050 with 11 new cases.

Four among the 13 patients in Dakshina Kannada had returned from Saudi Arabia and seven had returned from Sharjah recently. Two others were suffering from an influenza-like illness (ILI). All the 13 patients have been shifted to the designated COVID hospital in Mangaluru.

In Udupi, three among the 11 new covid patients are children. Four are Maharashtra returnees and two had come from Tamil Nadu. Five others have contracted infection from other positive patients. 

Only 98 cases are currently active in Udupi among 1,050. As many as 950 patients have been discharged from hospital. Two deaths have occurred in the district including one on Friday.

Mangaluru, June 13: Commending the Karnataka government move to ban the online classes for children up to Standard 5, Mangaluru MLA U T Khader has demanded to impose ban on all education apps that offer online coaching to school children.

"I welcome the government’s decision of banning online classes up to class 5. I would like to know why education apps of corporate companies are allowed to continue when schools are banned to conduct online classes. Why the government could not ban those education apps that offer online classes?” the former minister questioned.

He warned that private schools in the state may commence their online classes through such apps of corporate companies if the present situation continues.

Not all parents in the state can afford buying smart phones required for online classes, he said. "Only 30% of the school children in the state have access to smart phones. Most of the parents cannot afford to buy smart phones for their children. Government should take into consideration the mental stress of academically brilliant children among poor families. Those children may go under depression when they do not have access to online classes. The government can cancel some of the schemes like distribution of bicycles and reserve such funds to find solutions to the problems poor children face at present,” Khader said.