Needn't to protect religion; just follow it: Kemaru seer at K M Shafi library launch

Mumbai, Jul 1: The Maharashtra government will set up a Marathi medium college in Kolhapur for the Marathi- speaking people residing in the border areas of Karnataka, a minister said on Tuesday.

Higher and technical education minister Uday Samant, in a statement here, said the decision has been taken with a view to cater to the educational needs of the Marathi-speaking population residing in the neighbouring state.

He said the new state-run college will be a sub-centre of the Shivaji University at Kolhapur.

The Kolhapur district collector will provide a five- acre plot for the proposed college following which all necessary official permissions will be given, Samant said.

The college will start functioning from the next academic year, the release said.

Acommittee headed by Shivaji University vice- chancellor Nitin Karmalkarwill work out the modalities for establishing the educational institute, it added.

The border areas of Karnataka have a sizeable Marathi- speaking population.

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 31: The Kerala government

on Tuesday rejected concerns of community spread of novel coronavirus in the state in the wake of the second death of a patient here who had no travel history or reported contact with any infected person.

Setting aside the concern, Health Minister K K Shylaja said the deceased man, a native of nearby Pothancode, was already suffering from several other health issues including high blood pressure.

The 68-yearold man died at the government medical college here, taking the total number of COVID-19 deaths in Kerala to two, the government said.

"We have got information that the deceased man had come in contact with some persons arrived from the Gulf. As he was very sick and was not in a position to speak, we could not collect details from him directly," she told reporters here.

"So we had to collect such details from his relatives now. As per preliminary assessment, it was a case of contact spread. So, as of now, there is no need to get panic about the community spread," she said

The possibility of death was high among patients, aged above 60 years and suffering from other diseases like heart ailments or diabetics, she said.

"That's why we are giving strict directions to the elderly people to remain in homes and avoid contact with infected persons, " the minister said.

However, the minister directed those came in contact with the deceased person to remain in self-quarantine and inform the authorities if they developed any infection symptoms.

In both the coronavirus deaths in the state, the deceased persons were aged and were suffering from other diseases, she added.

New Delhi, Mar 4: Tech giant Intel has said one of its employees in Bengaluru has "potentially been exposed" to coronavirus and is currently under quarantine.

The company also said it has implemented precautionary measures like travel restrictions, increased frequency of office sanitisation, and work-from-home provisions in India.

"An Intel employee in Bangalore has potentially been exposed and is currently under quarantine in accordance with government requirements," Intel said in a late night statement on Tuesday.

The company said it is monitoring the coronavirus situation closely and working to ensure that its employees have the information and resources they need to stay safe and informed.

In India, we have implemented precautionary measures such as travel and event restrictions, visitor screenings at all our offices, increased frequency of office sanitisation, and work-from-home provisions," it said.

The virus outbreak, which has seen cases being registered across the world including South Korea, Iran, Italy and Japan, has had a significant impact on businesses across industries.

Microblogging platform Twitter has asked its employees to work from home while other tech giants like Tata Consultancy Services and HCL Technologies instructed staff to avoid non-essential travel as IT firms put in place measures to safeguard workers against the deadly coronavirus.

The coronavirus outbreak claimed over 3,000 lives globally, and fresh cases being reported in India.

The government has stepped up its efforts to detect and check the virus outbreak whose epicentre was in China.