Students from Shiroor-based institution visit Kennedy space centre

Udupi, June 2: The number of positive cases may continue to be more in Udupi district since the results of more than 3,000 samples are pending with Labs.

The district total cases to 260. The figure had seemed far-fetched on May 15, when the number of cases stood at just three. The latest spike has been attributed to the return of migrants from other States as well as from abroad. These samples are from people who returned to the district in the last two weeks.

This delay is because the laboratories testing samples from Udupi are burdened with a high case-load after more than 8,500 people returned to the district, particularly from the neighbouring state of Maharashtra.

"Samples have piled up after the influx of people returning from other states and from abroad," says Dr Prashant Bhat, nodal officer for COVID-19 in Udupi. This delay has caused returnees in institutional quarantine to stay on for as long as 18 days.

The designated laboratory for coronavirus testing in Udupi is Wenlock District Hospital in Mangaluru. The district administration also sends samples to laboratories at the Kasturba Hospital in Manipal, Yenepoya Medical College, Mangaluru, KS Hegde Medical Academy, Mangaluru, and Viral Diagnostic Laboratory in Shivamogga. Apart from Udupi, the laboratory in Manipal is also testing samples from Uttara Kannada district. The laboratory in Shivamogga is also testing samples from Shivamogga and Bijapur districts. The laboratories in Mangaluru, similarly, have samples from Dakshina Kannada district.

Dr Avinash Shetty, Medical Superintendent of Kasturba Hospital in Manipal, one of the private laboratories being used by the Udupi district administration, said that they are testing samples in batches. "We received around 600 samples today and we will be testing them now. The backlog of samples should be cleared in the next few days," Dr Avinash said.

All 73 cases reported in Udupi on Monday were patients with travel history of returning from Maharashtra or patients with travel history of returning from abroad.

In cases of some patients who tested coronavirus positive in the past week, people were released from institutional quarantine after a stipulated period only to be tracked down again and admitted in hospitals after their results returned positive.

While two such cases emerged in Belapu and Belman in the district, the administration is now following up with others who were released from institutional quarantine to ensure they remain in home quarantine till their test results are confirmed.

The spike in cases among returning migrants in Udupi also comes at a time the Karnataka government reduced restrictions on interstate travel.

Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 25: The government of Kerala under the leadership of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is all set to launch the 'Kerala Dialogue' -- a debate series on new concepts and development models during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A series of visionaries including noted political thinker Noam Chomsky and Nobel-laureate economist Amartya Sen will join this unique initiative that is to be rolled out from Friday.

The debate series to be inaugurated by the CM will feature prominent personalities from various walks of life including scientists, philosophers, diplomats, economists, writers, journalists, activists, technocrats and people's representatives.

The first episode will have Chomsky, Sen and WHO Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan speaking on 'Kerala - Future Paths of Development'. 

State Planning Board vice chairman VK Ramachandran and senior journalist N Ram would be the moderators. The first episode would be telecast through the Chief Minister's official social media accounts.

The coming episodes in the series will also be telecast in the same manner. The government is of the view that the Kerala Dialogue series can ensure debates and dialogues on sustainable and inclusive development on the lines of the Kerala model.

Jeddah, Jul 9: Karnataka NRI Forum Jeddah, a registered charitable organization under Government of Karnataka & Indian Consulate Jeddah - Saudi Arabia, helping the Kannadigas overseas and in Karnataka state as well, has initiated played its role in helping stranded Kannadigas to travel back to home under Vande Bharath Mission. 

The first flight which was departed to Bengaluru from Jeddah through this mission had 155 passengers. The forum had helped hundreds ofstranded Kannadigas in reaching their destinations with majority passengers were on emergency medical issues and pregnant women.  Still hundreds of Kannadigas are looking ahead for the help to fly back.

Now, the forum has organized two separate charter flights with Spice jet for Mangaluru (IXE)on16TH July 2020 & for Bengaluru (BLR) on18TH July 2020 from Jeddah (JED) airport respectively, with the support of Indian Consulate Jeddah and the Karnataka State Government.

As the huge demands from Kannadigas having very limited seats availability, the passengers (from Karnataka Only) can book and confirm their tickets by submitting their booking data under the link given below. Priority will be given to passengers with critical needs. 

https://forms.gle/BGvFFXoNSxVmrpRh9

Note: The passengers already booked tickets with KARNATAKA NRI FORUM JEDDAH shall not reapply, you will be receiving emails / calls from the Forum shortly.

For further information you can send emails to [email protected] or by calling to below given numbers.

Mohammed Mansoor (President): +966 50459 4752
Shaikh Saoud (Chief Coordinator): +966 55978 3092