Ramanath Rai has entered into a ‘nikah’ with SDPI after paying huge ‘mahr’: BJP

Mangaluru, May 29: Even as the thousands of Indian expatriates in Saudi Arabia are waiting for repatriation flights to return to India, a few NRI entrepreneurs are sending home their employees through chartered flights. 

The government of India on May 21 had formally approved the repatriation of stranded Indian expatriate workers through chartered flights arranged by their employing companies particularly in Gulf region and elsewhere. 

Expertise Contracting Co. Ltd headed by K S Sheik and Al-Muzain Est. headed by Zakaria Jokatte are among those who have hired charter flights to repatriate hundreds of employees to India amidst corona lockdown. 

Mr Sheik said that his firm had applied for nine charter flights. "Two of the charter flights will carry 360 people to Mangaluru. Seven other flights will repatriate employees to Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai and Hyderabad," he said, adding that the company will bear complete expense of their repatriation and quarantine facility after India. 

Mr Jokatte three charter flights will fly from Dammam to Mangaluru International Airport on June 2, 5 and 8 carrying their employees.

Bengaluru, Mar 23: The Karnataka government on Monday decided to purchase 1,000 ventilators from medical devices company Skanray Technologies and five lakh Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), amid rising COVID-19 cases.

Health Minister B Sriramulu convened a meeting with officials to review the situation in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, and with the Mysuru-based firm through a video conference.

"In the meeting, it was decided to buy 1,000 ventilators immediately", the Minister tweeted.

He said the government has already taken steps to buy ten lakh masks, and decided to purchase five lakh PPE.

"The Health Department has been working on a war- footing to halt the spread of the (COVID-19) infections", Sriramulu tweeted.

The Minister appealed to the citizens to strictly follow social distancing.

Six new COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Karnataka on Sunday, taking the total number of infections to the respiratory disease to 26 -- the highest number of positive cases in a single day in the State.

The Karnataka government has announced shutdown of all commercial activities barring essential services in nine districts, where COVID-19 cases have been reported, till March 31.

They are: Bengaluru city, Bengaluru Rural, Mangaluru, Mysuru, Kalaburagi, Dharwad, Chikkaballapura, Kodagu and Belagavi, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said.

Bengaluru, Mar 28: Karnataka government on Saturday launched a food helpline number --155214-- for the labourers who have been affected due to lockdown imposed by the central government to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

This came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Tuesday announced a 21-day lockdown in the entire country effective from midnight to deal with the spread of the coronavirus, saying that " social distancing" is the only option to deal with the disease, which spreads rapidly.
Similarly, other states including Delhi have started both official and non-official helpline numbers for necessary assistance.
Both the government institutions and social organizations are contributing together in the fight against coronavirus during the lockdown.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), there are 918 confirmed cases of coronavirus cases in the country and 19 fatalities have been reported.