New scheme to provide regular income for Keralites returning from Gulf

Mangaluru, Jul 2:  A seven-day old baby boy was tested positive for Covid-19, Health Department officials said on Thursday.

The infant is currently undergoing treatment at a designated Covid Hospital here. The baby was born at a private hospital in the city last week. 

According to the officials, it was not known as to how the newborn contracted the infection.

Mangaluru, July 14: In order to detect COVID-19 cases quickly in Dakshina Kannada, the government has commissioned a programme to administer rapid antigen tests.

The coastal district has already received 3,500 rapid antigen test kits, which can give results in 30 minutes, an official said, adding that tests will be conducted shortly and training is being imparted on the use of the kits.

The antigen tests will be conducted for emergency cases like delivery, surgery, persons with severe symptoms of Covid-19, multiple-organ failure and for those whose condition is critical. 

"If a symptomatic patient tests negative for Covid-19, then his throat swab sample would be sent for lab testing," the district health officer (DHO) said.

The rapid antigen tests is expected to help in increasing the number of tests and bring down the load of testing on labs, as antigen kits allow faster diagnosis.

It takes a minimum of eight hours to get the results via real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test. Antigen tests can provide results within half an hour.

Bengaluru, May 24: Karnataka has conducted 2.03 lakh tests across the 57 Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) COVID-19 testing labs till Sunday morning, said the state Minister of Medical Education Dr K Sudhakar.

He informed that the state has doubled the number of tests in just 16 days after clocking 1 lakh tests on May 8.

"After clocking 1 lakh tests on May 8, we have doubled the number of tests in just 16 days. As on this morning, we conducted 2.03 lakh tests across our 57 ICMR COVID-19 testing labs. I congratulate doctors and lab technicians on this achievement," Sudhakar tweeted.

As many as 1,743 people have been detected positive for coronavirus in the state, of which 597 have been cured and discharged and 41 have succumbed to the infection, as per the Union Health Ministry.