Ramesh Jarkiholi did not met Amit Shah, says BJP

Bengaluru, Apr 13: Eminent scientist and NITI Aayog member V K Saraswat said on Monday the number of COVID- 19 cases is not going to go beyond what's being reported daily in India as he maintained that the country is in the process of flattening the curve.

The former Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister said the coronavirus positive cases have seen a sharper rise in the last four-five days because of increase in the number of testing.

"It's a good sign; all those asymptomatic cases lying hidden they are also coming out," Saraswat told PTI. "We certainly had a catalytic factor which was basically this (Nizamuddin) Markaz problem which has actually created clusters at different places and that has also been one of the factors for the kind of rise that has taken place."

But he said India is in a much better shape compared to other nations in the battle against COVID-19. "I can only say that the rate is not going to go beyond what has been going on now, may be 700 to 800 cases per day. So, we are in the process of flattening the curve."

The government's decision to declare nation-wide lockdown has paid dividends, Saraswat, a former chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, said.

Noting that India has seen a series of virus attacks in the last 15-20 years including Chikungunya and Dengue, he said the emphasis now should be on more and more R & D to find vaccines in advance.

Bengaluru, Jun 2: Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Tuesday interacted with District Collectors (DCs) and Superintendents of Police (SPs) regarding COVID- 19 situation in the State.

In the meeting held through a video conference, he said that DCs, SPs and the District Panchayat Chief Executive Officer (CEO) be divided into taluks and ordered them to take appropriate measures to control COVID-19.

He was speaking today in a video conversation with District Collector, District Panchayat Chief Executives and Superintendents of Police in Kalaburgi, Vijayapura, Udupi, Yadagiri, Raichuru and Belagavi districts regarding measures to control the spread of COVID-19.

The Chief Minister instructed officials to monitor the investments in taluka centres. He also ordered to create a task force in the village panchayats, who will be monitoring things closely.

The Chief Minister also directed for the creation of ward-level watchdog committee in every village and city and an FIR should be registered in case of a home quarantine violation.

Home Minister Basavaraja Bommai, Revenue Minister R Ashok, Chief Secretary TM Vijayabhaskar, Development Commissioner Vandita Sharma, Police Chief Director Praveen Sood, Health Department general secretary Javed Akhtar and secretary Pankaj Kumar Pandey were also present in the meeting.

Bengaluru, May 17: Amidst mounting demand form Kannadigas across the world for repatriation flights in the wake of covid-19 lockdown, Dr Arathi Krishna, former Deputy Chairman of the NRI Forum of Karnataka government, has written to Hardeep Singh Puri Minister of Civil Aviation to operate more special flights to Gulf repatriate Kannadigas from gulf countries. 

Dr Arathi Krishna’s first request in the letter was to add flights from Kuwait, Bahrain and Jeddah to Bengaluru as many (from Karnataka) are stranded in these cities in precarious situations.

In addition, she also requested for a couple of flights from Dammam and Riyadh to Bengaluru as there are more than 3780 Kannadigas registered to return from Saudi Arabia and members of Bearys Chamber of Commerce and Industry are requesting the same. Any number of flights from Dubai to Bengaluru and Mangaluru will also help the stranded people, the letter stated. 

“Old and sick people, pregnant women and others are in urgent need to connect with the world are looking up to you for getting flights from different comers of the world. Indian communities are hopeful that you will use your position to help them to get the much needed mobility at this time,” the letter stated. 

She also said that the people in Karnataka are grateful to you (Mr Hardeep Singh Puri) for adding two flights from Dubai to Bengaluru in the last two schedules and one flight each from Riyadh, Dammam, Muscat and Doha.

Dr Arathi Krishna is currently serving as the Chairman of the NRI Cell of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee and Secretary of Indian Overseas Congress.