Bidriware demo by Qadri enthralls students of Alevoor school

Bengaluru, Jun 7: Fatalities due to coronavirus reached 61 in Karnataka with two more deaths, while 239 more tested positive for the viral infection, pushing the tally in the state to 5,452, the health department said on Sunday.

The total COVID-19 cases in the state include 2,132 discharges, 3,257 active cases and 61 deaths. A 61-year-old woman suffering from hypothyroidism and was diagnosed with Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) died on Saturday whereas a 57-year-old man having filariasis and chronic nyeloid leukemia died on Sunday in Bengaluru.

Most of those who contributed for Sunday's new cases were interstate passengers. 183 passengers, most of whom returned from Maharashtra were tested positive for the virus, the health bulletin said.

According to the health department, 39 coronavirus positive cases were reported in Kalaburagi and Yadagiri, 38 in Belagavi, 23 in Bengaluru urban, 17 each in Dakshina Kannada and Davangere, 13 in Udupi, 12 in Shivamogga, nine in Vijayapura, seven in Bidar, six in Ballari, five each in Bengaluru Rural and Hassan, three in Dharwad, two each in Gadag and Uttara Kannada and one each in Mandya and Raichur.

India today reported the highest single-day spike of 9,971 new Covid-19 cases and 287 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases in the country to 2,46,628

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Bengaluru, Jul 1: Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar on Wednesday played down reports about confusion regarding valuation of Second Pre- University and the Secondary School Leaving Certificate exam papers.

"Creating confusion has become a habit. There was confusion before the exam, during the exam and now confusion about the valuation of the exam papers," Kumar told reporters in Ramanagara when asked about the confusion over the valuation of answer sheets.

He had gone there to inspect a few centres where the SSLC or the 10th standard exams are underway.

The minister reminded people not to speak about the abilities of the students with contempt.

"Our students have toiled hard and are enthusiastically appearing for the examination. They are eligible for the marks they will score. So we should not speak about our children with disrespect," Kumar said.

The Education Minister said he had spoken to many leaders including former chief ministers Siddaramaiah and H D Kumaraswamy on conducting the examinations.

"Kumaraswamy had insisted on postponing the examination. I personally spoke to him and apprised him about the steps taken by us. I told him that we will work with more sincerity to ensure the safety of the children," Kumar said.

The SSLC exam was scheduled to take place from March 27 but due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, it was postponed.

While the CBSE and a few other states either decided to give marks based on the students' performance in the previous examinations such as quarterly and half-yearly exams or gave general promotion to the students, Karnataka went ahead to hold the exam.

According to Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board officials, around 8.5 lakh students have enrolled this year for the SSLC examination.

The exams are being held at 2,879 exam centres across the state.

Prior to the SSLC examination, the last exam of the Second PUC was also conducted on June 18, which was also put on hold due to the lockdown.

New Delhi, Jul 7: Congress leader Dinesh Gundu Rao's wife Tabu Gundu Rao informed that four of their employees have tested positive for coronavirus.

"Well sadly our PA, one more Gunman and 2 house staff tested positive. We are all thankfully negative but in isolation and quarantine for 10 to 14 days from today, to check if we develop symptoms as we are primary contacts to them. Hopefully we should get through this," Tabu tweeted.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, there are 23,474 coronavirus cases in Karnataka including 13,255 and 372 deaths.