Rahul revamps Cong K'taka unit ahead of assembly poll

Mangaluru, Apr 12: Swift and strict action by the District Administration has resulted in the district achieving ‘Clean’ week with no new cases of COVID-19 reported for the seventh day in a row.

Meanwhile, in a happy coincidence, the district’s only infant allegedly affected – a ten month old child – was totally cured and discharged from the hospital along with infant’s mother and grandmother who were considered to the primary contacts. They are never tested positive for the virus, it is reported. Health experts attributed this to their natural immunity.

The child is said to have contracted the infection during a family visit to Kasargod, which has turned in to a Covid-19 hot spot. The family which hails from Sajipanadu in Bantwal-taluk had been kept in isolation ever since the child had tested positive on March 25. The quarantine was extended to the entire village as a preventive measure and the District Administration undertook the responsibility to providing essential supplies.

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 24: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said that there is no community spread or the expected phase three spread of coronavirus in the state so far but the threat continues.

Speaking to media persons here on Thursday, Vijayan said that Kasargod, Kannur, Kozhikode, and Malappuram districts will be in the red zone with full restrictions.

"All the other ten districts in the State will be in the orange zone. With the detection of new cases today, the status of Kottayam and Idukki districts have been changed from green to orange. The district administration will decide on the hotspot areas to be closed," he said.

He said there would be an increase in the number of random tests in the red zones.

"In an effort to confirm that there is no community spread in the State, random antibody tests would be conducted among health workers, police personnel, home delivery persons, volunteers and migrant labourers," he added.

The Chief Minister said that COVID-19 labs set up at the Pariyaram Government Medical College at Kannur and the Kottayam Medical College have got the approval from the ICMR for coronavirus testing. The lab at Kannur Medical College will start functioning from Friday.

The UV sterilised lab, spread over 2,200 sq ft is equipped with four real-time PCR machines. In the first phase, this lab will be able to do 15 tests per day, which will be gradually increased to conduct 60 tests in the next phase.

"With the opening of these two new labs, tests to detect COVID-19 will be conducted in 14 government labs in Kerala. Apart from this, there are two private labs also in Kerala which are doing these tests. Since the number of coronavirus cases is again increasing in the State, the government has decided to procure ten real-time PCR machines to ramp up testing," he added.

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.