SpiceJet to launch Mangaluru-Dubai flight service in winter season

Bengaluru, May 5: A 62-year-old woman from Vijayapura succumbed to coronavirus infection on Tuesday, taking the COVID-19 death toll in Karnataka to 28, a health official said.

The state has registered eight more COVID-19 cases in the past 19 hours, increasing the count of such cases to 659, the official added.

"Positive case 640, 62-year-old female resident of Vijayapura died on Tuesday due to cardiac arrest," the health official said.

Admitted to a designated hospital''s ICU on Sunday, the woman was also suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Bronchial Asthma (BA) and complained of breathlessness.

Among the eight fresh cases that emerged in the state, four were contacts of earlier cases, two with Influenza Like Illness (ILI) and one with travel history to Uttarakhand.

The health department is also tracing the contact history of a 30-year-old woman from Bengaluru Urban.

Incidentally, no new cases emerged from Davangere as 22 cases rocked the district on Monday.

Among the new cases, Bengaluru Urban contributed 3, followed by Bagalkote, 2, Ballari, Dakshina Kannada and Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada, 1 each.

Of the new cases, six are men and two women.

Bengaluru, May 29: Seven out of ten (72 per cent) workers in Karnataka reported having lost their employment during the COVID-19-induced lockdown, according to findings of a survey by Azim Premji University, in collaboration with ten civil society organisations.

The university said in a statement it conducted "a detailed" phone survey of 5,000 workers across 12 states in the country, to gauge the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on employment, livelihoods, and access to government relief schemes.

The survey covered self-employed, casual, and regular wage and salaried workers and it released the findings for Karnataka on Thursday.

Seventy-six per cent of urban workers and 66 per cent of rural workers lost their employment, the survey findings said.

For non-agricultural self-employed workers and wage workers, who were still employed, average weekly earnings fell by two-third.

More than four in ten salaried workers (44 per cent) saw either a reduction in their salary or received no salary during the lockdown.

Six out of ten households reported that they did not have enough money to buy even a weeks worth of essential items, according to the survey.

Eight out ten households reported a reduction in food intake, while less than three in ten vulnerable households (27 per cent) in urban Karnataka received any form of cash transfer from the government, it said.

In summary, the disruption in the Karnatakas economy and labour markets is enormous. Livelihoods have been devastated at unprecedented levels during the lockdown.

The recovery from this could be slow and very painful, the statement said.

As a response to the findings of this survey, the team which has conducted the survey suggested a universalisation of the PDS to expand its reach and implementation of expanded rations for at least the next six months.

It suggested cash transfers equal to at least Rs.7000 per month for two months, and proactive steps like expansion of MGNREGA, introduction of urban employment guarantee, and investment in universal basic services, among others.

Mangaluru, Jun 21: The first flight chartered by Karnataka Sports and Cultural Club (KSCC) to repatriate stranded UAE Kannadigas today reached Mangaluru from Sharjah.

The Air Arabia flight with 173 passengers took off from Sharjah international airport around 6:00 am (UAE Time) and landed at Mangaluru International Airport at around 11.00 am (IST) on Sunday. 

The flight had 29 pregnant women, 16 children, 5 infants, senior citizens, people with medical emergencies and those who have lost jobs among others.
 
KSCC Manager Mr Shafi said that all the legal procedures were carried out smoothly. Charter flight was arranged only for the stranded Kannadigas.
 
KSCC had set up help desk to finalize list of passengers, given discounted ticket fare for needy passengers who cannot afford the full repatriation cost. Free PPE kits were distributed to all passengers along with snacks.

Meanwhile rapid tests for Covid-19 was conducted before departure and mandatory quarantine for all the passengers was arranged accordingly in 3 hotels in Mangaluru for a period of seven days.
 
KSCC office bearers Shafi, Althaf, Javed, Naseer and volunteers were present at airport during the flight departure. KSCC has expressed gratitude to Consulate General, DC of DK District, Umar U H and Ataullah Jokkate for their support.