Udupi, April 25: With the death of one more head of cattle at the Henberu hamlet near Byndoor in Udupi district on Tuesday, the toll has risen to 85.
Nagaraj Marvanthe, Veterinary Officer, Byndoor, confirmed that one head of cattle belonging to Nagamma Devadiga had died in the hamlet on Tuesday.
As many as 16 heads of cattle were undergoing treatment. The hamlet had 227 heads of cattle as on April 11 and as many as 85 of them have died over the last 13 days, Dr. Marvanthe said.
The current physical distancing guidelines provided by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may not be adequate to curb the coronavirus spread, according to a research which says the gas cloud from a cough or sneeze may help virus particles travel up to 8 metres. The research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, noted that the the current guidelines issued by the WHO and CDC are based on outdated models from the 1930s of how gas clouds from a cough, sneeze, or exhalation spread.
Study author, MIT associate professor Lydia Bourouiba, warned that droplets of all sizes can travel 23 to 27 feet, or 7-8 metres, carrying the pathogen.
According to Bourouiba, the current guidelines are based on "arbitrary" assumptions of droplet size, "overly simplified", and "may limit the effectiveness of the proposed interventions" against the deadly pandemic.
She explained that the old guidelines assume droplets to be one of two categories, small or large, taking short-range semi-ballistic trajectories when a person exhales, coughs, or sneezes.
However based on more recent discoveries, the MIT scientist said, sneezes and coughs are made of a puff cloud that carries ambient air, transporting within it clusters of droplets of a wide range of sizes.
Bourouiba warned that this puff cloud, with ambient air entrapped in it, can offer the droplets moisture and warmth that can prevent it from evaporation in the outer environment.
"The locally moist and warm atmosphere within the turbulent gas cloud allows the contained droplets to evade evaporation for much longer than occurs with isolated droplets," she said.
"Under these conditions, the lifetime of a droplet could be considerably extended by a factor of up to 1000, from a fraction of a second to minutes," the researcher explained in the study.
The MIT scientist, who has researched the dynamics of coughs and sneezes for years, added that these droplets settle along the trajectory of a cough or sneeze contaminating surfaces, with their residues staying suspended in the air for hours.
"Even when maximum containment policies were enforced, the rapid international spread of COVID-19 suggests that using arbitrary droplet size cutoffs may not accurately reflect what actually occurs with respiratory emissions, possibly contributing to the ineffectiveness of some procedures used to limit the spread of respiratory disease," Bourouiba wrote in the study
Udupi, Jan 25: The accused, who planted a crude bomb at the Mangalore International Airport on January 20, was brought to Udupi on Saturday, to collect information, as part of the spot investigation, police said here.
According to police officials, accused Aditya Rao was brought to Karnataka Bank Kadiyali branch, where Rao had a Safe Locker. The team opened the locker and seized the documents, along with a Box.
They said the seized documents, along with the Box, will be sent to the FSL for investigation.
Bengaluru, Jun 24: About 8,48,203 students will appear in the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examination tomorrow, i.e., June 24, said Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu on Wednesday.
Students have been advised to report to the examination centre three-hour before the commencement of the examination i.e., at 07:30 am. The examination will commence at 10:30 am.
Early entry to the centres will also help maintain social distancing that is very much essential during the pandemic, minister for primary and secondary education S Suresh Kumar said.
"SSLC exams to take place tomorrow. About 8,48,203 students will write the exam. Social distancing needs to be followed and the mask should be used. Minister of Education and I have already held a lot of meetings. Students from containment zones will be carefully handled," said Sriramulu.
Commenting upon the situation arising in the state due to COVID-19, Sriramulu said, "There is a panel of experts to decide about lockdown. There has been an opinion that the COVID-19 test should be increased. Workers, traders, and others should be categorised in 15 categories and tests must be conducted," he added.
Sriramulu further said that there will be a meeting of task force on the coming Monday.
"All the issues will be brought to the notice of the Chief Minister at the task force meeting, then CM will take a call on what needs to be done," he said.
Meanwhile, Suresh Kumar, Minister of Education inspected the schools and places where SSLC exams will be held.
Earlier Karnataka Education Minister S Suresh Kumar had announced that SSLC examinations, which were stayed in view of the coronavirus pandemic, will be conducted 'between June 25 and July 4' in the state.
According to the Union Health Ministry, Karnataka has 9,721 COVID-19 cases including 150 fatalities.
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