Minister asks foreign tourists to shun skirts, stirs controversy

Bengaluru, Apr 13: Fifteen new positive cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Karnataka, taking the total number of affected in the state to 247, the Health department said on Monday.

"Fifteen new positive cases have been reported from last evening to this noon.... Till date 247 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed. This includes 6 deaths and 59 discharges," the department said in a mid-day situation report.

Among the 15 new cases thirteen are contacts of patients already tested positive, while one from Dodabballapura in Bengaluru Rural is with a travel history to Delhi, the other from Bengaluru city has Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI).

Among the 13 contact cases tested positive four are from Hubballi in Dharwad district, three each from Malavalli in Mandya district and Raibag in Belagavi, two each from Bidar, and one from Mudhol in Bagalkote district.

Three out of 15 new cases are children- a 8 year-old girl from Malavalli in Mandya, 16-year old girl from Bidar and 14-year old boy from Raibag in Belagavi.

From across the state most number of infections have been reported in Bengaluru with 77, followed by Mysuru (48) and Belagavi (17).

Those discharged include 27 patients from Bengaluru, nine from Mysuru, seven from Dakshina Kannada, six from Chikkaballapura, three from Davangere, two each from Uttara Kannada and Kalaburagi, and one each from Udupi, Dharwad and Kodagu.

Among the dead, two are from Kalaburagi and one each from Bengaluru, Bagalkote, Gadag and Tumakuru.

Koppal, Jun 3: Opposition Leader in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said that allegedly there was deep crisis in the state BJP but categorically denied any role of Congress in it.

Addressing a press conference here, the former Chief Minister said 'I and my party have nothing to do with the developments in the ruling party. I came to know through media that some 25 BJP MLAs allegedly not satisfied with the way of functioning of the government. The Congress party is not interested in what is happenings in BJP and if the government falls on its own, then Congress might stake claim to form the government eventually".

Mr Siddaramaiah alleged that the State’s BJP government was trying to 'subvert the Constitution and Panchayat Raj Laws' by postponing election to Gram Panchayats citing spread of COVID-19.

'The Commission has not provided any information so far about the preparation of electoral rolls, fixing of reservation to seats, and calendar of events for holding elections. It is the duty of the Commission to hold elections as per the Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj Act,' he further said.

The EC on May 28 postponed elections to GPs citing 'exceptional circumstances' prevailing in Karnataka following the coronavirus pandemic situation. Elections to as many as 5,800 GPs scheduled to be held by next month with the ending of their terms have been put off, and fresh dates were yet to be announced.

Bengaluru, Jun 12: Karnataka on Friday reported 464 discharges, its highest, as the state confirmed 271 new cases of COVID-19 and seven related fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 6,516 and the death toll to 79.

In a significant development, the day also saw the total number of discharges overtaking the number of active cases in the state.

As of June 12 evening, cumulatively 6,516 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 79 deaths and 3,440 discharges, the Health department said in its bulletin.

It said, out of 2,995 active cases, 2,976 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 19 are in ICU.

The seven deaths include four from Bengaluru, two from Kalaburagi and one from Hassan.

Those from Bengaluru are three women aged 61, 65 and 49 and a 52-year old man.

Among the dead from Kalaburagi are two men aged 53 and 48 while a 60-year old man from Hassan also succumbed to the virus.

Out of 271 new cases, 92 are returnees from other states, majority of them from neighbouring Maharashtra.

While 14 are those who returned from other countries.

Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Ballari accounted for 97 cases, followed by Bengaluru urban 36, Udupi 22, Kalaburagi 20, Dharwad 19, Dakshina Kannada 17, Bidar 10, nine each from Hassan and Mysuru, Tumakuru 7, Shivamogga 6, four each from Raichur and Uttara Kannada, three each from Chitradurga and Ramanagara, Mandya 2, and one each from Belagavi, Vijayapura and Kolar.

Udupi district tops the list of positive cases, with a total of 991 infections, followed by Kalaburagi (816) and Yadgir (735).

Among discharges also Udupi tops the list with a total of 474, followed by Kalaburagi (345) and Bengaluru urban (299).

A total of 4,26,341 samples have been tested so far, with 9,835 on Friday alone.

So far 4,11,244 samples have been reported as negative, and out of them 9,139 were reported negative today.