SDPI fields Riyaz Farangipete in Bantwal, says sacrifice of workers won’t go in vain

Bengaluru, Apr 28: Karnataka has found that the rapid antibody test kits for COVID-19 that the Centre supplied to the state have only 47% sensitivity. The state will be returning the kits to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Karnataka had received 11,400 rapid antibody test kits from the ICMR a few days back, out of which it had sent around 200 of them to NIMHANS for validation.

After the ICMR, on Monday, sent a circular to all states to return the test kits to the suppliers, Dr CN Manjunath, Director, Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research, and nodal officer for lab testing in the state's COVID-19 task force, said, "We have cancelled the orders we placed to Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech and Zhuhai Livzon Diagnostics for one lakh rapid antibody test kits. Since the ICMR supplied us with 11,400 kits out of the 6.5 lakh kits it procured, we will be returning the kits to them."

Manjunath told said that the validation at NIMHANS revealed the kits to have only 47% sensitivity. Sensitivity is the ability of a test to identify the true-positives in a population, i.e., the actual number of people who've been infected with the disease. With the rapid antibody testing kits being shelved, the state's plan to randomly test high risk groups has taken a backseat. 

So far, the state has tested 43,791 samples. 

Karnataka now has 22 testing facilities -- 14 government and seven private labs. Many private labs have not tested any samples so far because of the lack of test kits (the state has made it clear that it will not provide test kits to private labs). So, getting an ICMR approval for testing has become a moot point.p

Agreeing to the setback the state's plans of ramping up testing has taken, Manjunath said, "It is true that RT-PCR test kits are in shortage. Even Pune's Mylabs had a shortage in supplying test kits. But we are relying on institutes like Kidwai, Narayana Health and Biocon's Syngene that have received approval for testing. They're big institutes and we hope that they will test a large number of samples."

On reports that the Centre has RT-PCR test kits that will last for only a week, he said, "We have test kits that will last for eight to 10 days. We have ordered for more. We are hoping to receive them before the current kits run out."

Bengaluru, May 23: The Karnataka government on Friday said returnees from six states with high COVID-19 cases will be kept in institutional quarantine for seven days.

The states are - Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

As per the standard operating procedure released by the government, all people to arrive via rain, air road are expected to quarantine.

After they test negative for the disease in pool testing, they will be sent for home quarantine for another seven days, the government said.

Returnees from other low prevalence states will be asked to follow 14 days of home quarantine, according to the standard operating procedure (SOP) for entry of persons from other states to Karnataka issued by the state health department late on Friday night.

However home quarantine is allowed for pregnant ladies, people above 80 years, patients with comorbidities and children below 10 years of age, along with one attendant after they test negative.

In special cases like businessmen coming for urgent work, the quarantine period will be waived if they furnish a report from an ICMR-approved laboratory showing they tested negative for COVID-19, it said.

However, if they don't have reports, they will have to stay in institutional quarantine and can leave once their results test negative.

In case their stay exceeds 5 days, they will be sent to the fever clinic and get a five-day extension if found asymptomatic.

The report should not be more than two days old from the date of travel.

All Karnataka returnees who entered from 4 May will be tested from 5-7 days from the time of their arrival.

If found COVID-19 negative, they will be sent to home quarantine and will have to follow due precautions, the SOP stated.

Bengaluru, Mar 26: Karnataka government has warned strict penal action against landlords or house-owners under provisions of law for forcing doctors, paramedical staff and healthcare professionals to vacate their rented residences citing COVID-19 spread through them as the reason.

Stating that lot of complaints have been received in this regard, an order issued by Additional Chief Secretary Health and Family Welfare department Jawaid Akhtar said such behaviour amounted to obstructing public servant in discharging their duties./

Noting that the state government has issued Karnataka Epidemic Diseases (COVID-19) regulations 2020 for prevention and containment of the virus, it directed Deputy Commissioners of the district, Commissioner and Joint Commissioner of BBMP (civic body in Bengaluru), Commissioners of Municipal Corporations and District Deputy Commissioner of Police to take action against such incidents.

"Strict penal action should be taken against such landlords or house-owners under relevant provisions of law and submit an action taken report on a daily basis to the office of Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department," the order read.