Tour de Difference-2011' flagged off in city

Bengaluru, Jan 7: The Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths held an international bookie in connection with the Karnataka Premier League (KPL) betting scam and spot-fixing racket, police said on Tuesday.

The bookie was identified as Jitin Sait (32), a native of Sonipat in Haryana.

'We had obtained and issued a Look Out Circular (LOC) against Sait, and on Sunday, he was caught after he landed at the Kempegowda International Airport from the Netherlands.

Bengaluru, June 22: Even as the covid-19 positive cases are steadily increasing in Karnataka, an expert has claimed that community transmission has begun in Bengaluru and cases could keep rising over the next two months.

“If you look at the natural course of this virus across countries around the world, it is about six months. Now we’re in the fourth month. This will go on for another two months. It also sounds like this is the beginning of the peak. There is also a possibility of the number of cases going up from now on. Even across India, cases are increasing,” says Dr CN Manjunath, director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research and State Task Force member.

Besides the increase in number of cases, the virus is advancing silently, stealthily. A lot of people who are testing positive are asymptomatic. In areas like Padarayanapura, Nanjangud and many places in north Karnataka, there have been positive cases who have not had any contact with infected individuals. Some cases recorded in Bengaluru over the last two to three days have not had any contact with Covid-positive people.

Dr Manjunath adds: “We are in community transmission. This will happen because nature is ahead of everything. We have to take all possible precautionary measures at our command. This has to happen. Only then some kind of herd immunity will be developed.”

“We are expanding the guidelines of testing to include a large number of people to be tested. Now, according to the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines, only symptomatic Influenza like Illness (ILI) or Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI), or a person coming in contact with an infected person are being tested.

But since we have crossed 100 days in Karnataka from the first reported case and we’re getting cases with no travel history or contact with a Covid-positive person, we have to start random testing across the sub-group population. Only then will we understand the burden of the disease and what precautions need to be taken,” he says.

Bengaluru, Jun 12: Karnataka Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar on Friday said experts have indicated a surge in coronavirus cases in the state after August 15 and the government was taking all precautionary measures in that direction. Speaking to reporters in Ballari, Sudhakar said, "About 97 percent of over 3,000 active cases in the state are asymptomatic.

Experts after studying the developments in other countries and states have said that there will be a surge in infections after August 15."

He said the government was taking all precautionary measures in that direction.

 As of June 11 evening, cumulatively 6,245 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 72 deaths and 2,976 discharges, the health department's bulletin said.

It said, out of 3,195 active cases, 3,185 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 10 are in ICU.

Meanwhile, in a tweet pointing out that nearly 60 per cent of the COVID cases in the country are from 10 cities, Sudhakar said, despite being the fourth most populous city in the country Bengaluru has been successful in containing its spread.

"Nearly 60% of total COVID-19 cases in India are found in 10 cities. Despite being 4th most populous, Bengaluru has been successful in containing spread of virus.

I urge people to keep up the fight, continue vigil & together with #CoronaWarriors we can defeat the virus," Sudhakar tweeted.

Bengaluru that does not figure in the list of 10 cities shared by the Minister has reported 581 coronavirus cases till last evening, out of which 258 are active.