Moms of Mangalore: A network for social change

Bengaluru, Apr 17: The Karnataka government has announced the purchase of an additional two lakh rapid test kits for COVID-19 detection at a task force meeting on Thursday.

Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai and other senior officials were present at the task force meeting chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Dr CN Ashwathnarayan.

The Chinese government has agreed to supply rapid test kits to an officially listed company, which will increase the number of tests once it arrives, Ashwathnarayan said.

Moreover, 250 kiosks will be set up in the state to collect saliva samples of a person with COVID-19 symptoms. Such kiosks will be launched one-by-one in taluks of the state.

Ashwathnarayan explained that this would increase the sample collection process and prevent the spread of disease.

Ashwathnarayan said the purchase of the required 25,000 RT-PCR kits was also approved.
He stated that COVID-19 patients should be treated at government-appointed hospitals. A separate coronavirus helpline will be made operational to address the queries of people, Ashwathnarayan said.

During Ramadan, it has been decided not to allow mass prayers, he said. And added that tracing of cases related to the Tablighi Jamaat meeting in Delhi has been completed in the state.

Ballari, Apr 18: Hosapete town in Ballari district of Karnataka gasped in disbelief as it turned out that 11 members of one single family are positive for the coronavirus.

The whole town has been declared a containment zone and is being surveilled 24X7.

The family includes seven members whose tests returned positive today, three who tested Covid-19 positive on March 30 and one other member subsequently.

The seven who tested positive today had been negative when they were earlier tested along with the others.

They have all now been shifted to isolation wards at the District Hospital in Ballari.

Including this family of 11, Ballari has 13 positive cases so far, with one case each reported from Ballari and Siraguppa towns.

Startled by this sudden upsurge from Hosapete, the district administration has set up 16 fever clinics to screen people and six COVID care centres to treat positive cases. There are two dedicated COVID hospitals, one at Ballari and another at Torangallu in Sandur.

A team of psychological counsellors have been put on duty to provide support to the patients at the isolation centres.

Bengaluru, May 10: Former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Sunday accused the state government of not preparing proper guidelines to bring back people who are stranded near the Karnataka-Maharashtra border areas.

"No proper guidelines have been given to officials to bring back people who are stranded near the Karnataka-Maharashtra border. From the last 45 days, many of these people have not got any relief nor are there any proper directions or guidelines from the state government," alleged Kumaraswamy.

He also accused the state government of cheating the people of Karnataka.

"Karnataka government is cheating people the same way it cheated with the flood compensation. The state government had announced lakhs of rupees as compensation to those who lost houses in the flood last year. But nobody has got the records or details as to how many people got benefited from it," he added.
Fifty-three more COVID-19 cases were reported in Karnataka on Sunday, the state government said.

The total number of cases in the state is at 847, including 405 discharged and 31 deaths so far, the bulletin said.