Muthalik's bid to enter trouble-hit Mysuru averted; sent back from Maddur

Bengaluru, Jul 13: Former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Monday said that the state government should provide vitamin C drug, Ayush Ministry-certified immunity boosters and sanitisers to every household in the wake of the coronavirus spread.

"Karnataka government should provide vitamin C drug, Ayush Ministry-certified immunity boosters and sanitisers to every household to fight against COVID-19," Kumaraswamy told media.

The JDS leader further stated that "appropriate medication should be provided to those who are "symptomatic" by the Karnataka government and added that "by taking such measures the government can halt the spread of the virus."

If the government is not able to provide the health kit to everyone then at least they should give it to the BPL families, he added.

Kumaraswamy also stressed upon organising awareness campaigns about the coronavirus and use of supplements among the masses to prevent themselves from contracting the infection.

According to the Union Health Ministry, Karnataka has recorded 38,843 cases of COVID-19 to date.

Apr 12: The board and management of troubled NMC Healthcare should be held accountable for the financial irregularities, said Abdulaziz Al Ghurair, chairman of the UAE Banks Federation.

"Banks have dealt with the exposure professionally and they lent to a company which was listed on FTSE-100 index with world-class regulator and the world's largest audit firm doing their audit. Even if they present their balance sheet today, people will still lend to them. This is a world-class fraud and the management and board members should be held accountable. We should have a different track to handle this company. It is not a normal track that we can go," Al Ghurair said during a virtual press conference on Sunday.

It is estimated that the more than 80 local, regional and international banks have exposure to healthcare firm. The UAE bourses had asked all the listed companies in the UAE to announce their exposure. The UAE banks last week announced nearly Dh10 billion exposure to NMC Healthcare, which is owned by the billionaire BR Shetty.

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank has the highest exposure to NMC at Dh3 billion. Dubai Islamic Bank and its subsidiary Noor Bank announced Dh2 billion exposure while Emirates NBD and its Shariah-compliant unit Emirates Islamic Bank revealed Dh747.34 million exposure. Ajman Bank has Dh151.8 million while Al Salam Bank pegged its exposure at Dh161.5 million. All these lenders revealed their exposure for the first time on Sunday.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank said it had extended Dh1.07 billion in financing to NMC Healthcare, and an additional Dh113.67 million exposure to Islamic bonds issued by NMC.National Bank of Fujairah pegged its exposure to NMC at Dh289.1 million, while Sharjah-based United Arab Bank said its exposure was Dh135.3 million.

NMC recently revised its debt position to $6.6 billion, well above earlier estimates.

London's High Court last week placed hospital operator NMC Health into administration, on the application of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.

"I know leading bank in UAE have already legal guardian of the company so now management cannot hide anything. The new team will manage and discover what happened," said Al Ghurair.

 Mangaluru, July 18: The coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi recorded a total of 346 covid positive cases in last 24 hours. Dakshina Kannada recorded 4 new deaths.

While DK recorded 237 positive cases, neighbouring Udupi saw 109 people testing positive. It may be recalled that DK and Udupi had reported a combined record spurt of 347 Covid-19 cases for a single day on Thursday. 

Dakshina Kannada 

As many as 26,368 samples have been sent for tests so far. Among them 23,096 have turned out negative, and 3,311 people have received positive report. Currently there are 1,848 active cases while 1,387 persons have recovered. 109 patients were discharged from Wenlock as well as private hospitals today. Including today’s four deaths, 75 people have succumbed to covid. Among them 12 are from other districts.

The patients whose deaths were reported today are a 74-year-old female from Puttur who was also suffering from heart disease and asthma, a 67-year-old male who was suffering from pneumonia and was on ventilator, and two females aged 49 and 61 from Mangaluru who suffered cardiac arrest.

Udupi

With 109 new cases, the total number of covid positive cases reported in the district mounted to 2088. Among new cases 58 belong to Udupi taluk, 40 are from Kundapur and 11 from Karkala. 

A total of 24,382 samples have been collected so far, including 524 on Saturday, out of which 17 are coronavirus suspects and 317 are COVID contacts. Out of them, 21,757 samples have turned out to be negative, including 292 on Saturday, and 537 reports are awaited.

As many as 1,586 patients have been discharged so far including 43 on Saturday, and 492 cases are currently active. Ten deaths have occurred so far. One positive case has been transferred to Dakshina Kannada.