Sharjah Expo: Shanti Prakashana’s 4th year of participation

Bengaluru, Apr 4: Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Friday asked Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar to be the government's spokesperson on the Novel Coronavirus crisis management effort, a move that is being seen as keeping too many cooks from spoiling the broth.

At a high-level meeting to review measures on COVID-19 containment, Mr Yediyurappa is said to have taken exception to his Cabinet colleagues making multiple, and often contradictory statements, leading to confusion.

''The CM has directed Mr Kumar to be the only one to brief the media on COVID-19,'' a source from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) confirmed.

Mysuru, May 1: Four people who brought a dead man’s body from Mumbai for cremation in his native place in Mandya district in Karnataka have tested positive for Covid-19 virus, and now the administration is trying to find out if the man himself had been an undetected positive.

According to Mandya district deputy commissioner M V Venkatesh, the deceased man was a 53-year-old native of B Kodagalli of Pandavapura taluk, Melkote hobli in Mandya district. He died after suffering a heart attack at the U N Desai government hospital in Mumbai on April 23.

The cremation took place outside the man's native village after the local administration refused to allow it inside the village.

Wanting the final rites performed in his native place, the man’s family got the body embalmed and procured all the medical records and certificates from the hospital and brought it in an ambulance belonging to the Desai government hospital.

When they reached Pandavapura taluk in Karnataka on the evening of April 24, the local administration did not allow the body to enter the village but allowed the relatives to cremate it outside the village.

And since the family had come from Mumbai, the district administration quarantined all seven of the man’s relatives, and their samples were sent for testing on 28 April.

The results showed that the deceased man’s 25-year-old son, daughter-in-law, daughter, and two-year-old grandchild are positive for Covid 19. All of them have been admitted at the Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences although they have no symptoms.

Deputy commissioner Venkatesh said that in the Desai hospital records in Mumbai there was no mention whether or not the man had been tested for Covid-19. “We are writing to Desai hospital to clarify if the deceased person was tested for Covid 19. It is also possible that the family got infected by the man’s son who works in the loan department of ICICI Bank in Mumbai and visits several offices in different areas of Mumbai,” he said.

The man’s ancestral B Kodagalli village now has been sealed off. Though tests done on other members of the family have come back negative, the Mandya administartions plans to repeat their tests.

So far 26 people have tested positive for Covid 19 in Mandya district.

Bengaluru, Apr 3: Four people, including three who attended the Tablighi Jamat meet in Delhi, tested positive for coronavirus on Friday, taking the total number of the affected in the state to 128, the Health department said here.

The three men from Belagavi had attended the Tablighi- Jamaat congregation from March 13 to 18 at Delhi, while the other case was that of a 75-year-old man, who is a resident of Bagalkote.

A detailed investigation was underway to ascertain how he got infected, the department said in a bulletin.

It said that till date, 128 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, including three deaths and 11 discharges.

"With 128 cases we are in ninth position in the country in number of cases.Today four new cases were confirmed, of which three were those who attended Tablighi-Jamaat congregation," Primary and Secondary Education Minister Suresh Kumar told reporters, giving details about the bulletin.

He said 187 of the total of 288 samples collected from those who attended the congregation had tested negative and only 13 had turned positive so far.

"Out of 288 samples collected, we have got report for only 200 cases and are awaiting reports for 88," he added.

Though Kumar did not give any figures on the total number of people who went from Karnataka to attend theDelhi meet, the health department on Thursday had said nearly 1,000 people (including 19 foreigners) linked to Tablighi Jamat had been screened and swab samples of more than 200 people had been collected, while efforts are on to find out others.

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Friday held a meeting with Muslim leaders and MLAs even as the government stepped up efforts to track those who might have travelled to the state after taking part in the meet in Delhi last month, which has turned out to be the hotbed of COVID-19 spread in the country.

After the meeting, the Chief Minister said Muslim MLAs agreed to provide details of those who attended the Jamaat's congregation to the government and also convince them to undergo COVID-19 tests, along with quarantining themselves.

Out of total of 114 active cases in the state so far, 111 patients (including 1 pregnant woman) are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while three are in ICU (one on oxygen and two on Ventilators).

Seven of the 128 cases detected and confirmed were transit passengers of Kerala, who landed at airports in Karnataka and are being treated in the state.

Among the 128 positive cases, 51 were reported from Bengaluru, 21 from Mysuru, 10 from Bidar, nine from Dakshina Kannada, eight from Uttara Kannada, seven from Chikkaballapur, five from Kalaburgai, four from Ballari, three each from Davangere, Belagavi and Udupi, and one each from Kodagu, Tumakuru, Bagalkote and Dharwad.

Those discharged include nine patients from Bengaluru and two from Kalaburagi and among the deceased are one each are reported from Kalaburgari, Bengaluru and Tumakuru.

The Chief Minister held a series of meetings to review the measures taken to control the spread of COVID-19 and implementation of lockdown in the state.

He asked the labour department to deposit an additional Rs 1,000 from the Construction Workers Welfare Fund to the accounts of 15 lakh labourers in the sector.

The government has already deposited Rs 1000 to their accounts (amounting about Rs 150 crore) in the first round.

During the meeting the shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Kits for Doctors and health care professionals was discussed.

"Work order has been issued for 1 lakh PPE kits, and the Chief Minister has issued directions for the supply of 2 lakh more PPE kits," Kumar said.

Yediyurappa also chaired a meeting with Ministers from Bengaluru on steps to be taken to control spread of COVID-19, as the city has more than half the confirmed cases in the state.

He also decided to covene a meeting of city legislators in this regard on Saturday morning.

Kumar said it was also decided not to provide food free of cost at the state run Indira Canteens as concerns were raised about the quality and misuse that was happening during the Chief Minister's meeting with ministers today.

"We have decided to stop free food supply...we are providing foodgrains to poor through ration already," he said.

However, the Canteens will continue to provide subsidized food- breakfast at Rs 5 and lunch and dinner at Rs 10.

The government last month had decided that Indira Canteens would provide food packets free of cost to the poor and needy in the wake of the lockdown.

Meanwhile, in view of COVID-19, emergency Additional Chief Secretary, H&FW Department ordered extension ofservices of Medical and Para-medical staff, Clinical and Nonclinical staff retiring in April and May this year, to June 30.

Amid reports of lack of co-ordination between Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar and Health and Family Welfare Minister B Sriramulu, Chief Minister Yediyurappa has tasked Suresh Kumar to brief the media on COVID-19 related daily bulletins, official sources said.