High school students meet watery grave

Gadag, Apr 9: An 80-year-old woman who tested positive for COVID-19 passed away on Thursday due to cardiac arrest in Gadag, the district's Deputy Commissioner said.

She also had a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI). Her body was disposed of as per the protocol, officials said.

According to the Karnataka Government, 10 new positive cases have been reported in the State today, taking the total COVID-19 cases to 191, including 28 discharged patients and six deaths.

With an increase of 540 positive COVID-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours, India's tally of coronavirus cases has risen to 5,734, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday.

Out of the 5,734 cases, 5,095 are active COVID-19 cases and 472 patients have recovered while 166 have died.

Udupi, Apr 7: The district administrations of Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts have appealed to the state government to request Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to allow COVID-19 tests at Manipal’s Kasturba Hospital.

Kasturba Hospital was granted approval by the ICMR to conduct tests on samples to detect the novel coronavirus on March 24, however it rescinded it later.

Udupi district Deputy Commissioner (DC) G Jagadeesha stated that the Council did not provide any reason for the cancellation of approval; his office has requested the Chief Secretary to pressurise the Council in granting approval again.

Bengaluru, May 27: Aimed at giving a boost to affordable housing, the Karnataka government on Tuesday decided to slash the stamp duty on new apartments costing up to ₹35 lakh.

The decision was taken during a meeting chaired by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to review the progress of the Stamps & Registration department.

The Chief Minister directed that the stamp duty be cut from the existing five per cent to two per cent on apartments costing less than ₹20 lakh, getting registered for the first time, his office said in a statement.

Further, the stamp duty on apartments costing between ₹21 lakh - ₹35 lakh will be down from five per cent to three per cent, it said. It is estimated that in 2020-21 due to COVID-19 induced lockdown, Stamps and Registration department might fall short of its revenue target by ₹3,524 crore. The revenue target for 2020-21 is ₹12,655 crore.