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Bengaluru, July 20: The Karnataka government has reiterated that no final decision has so far been taken on reopening of schools in the state.

The clarification comes after minutes of the July 15 HRD ministry meeting where Karnataka education department officials said schools are reopening on September 1 went viral on social media. 

“The state government has not decided yet on starting schools. That they will reopen in September was only a general opinion expressed by our officials at the meeting. At present, we have no plans to start schools unless there is a conducive environment. There’s no need for anxiety,” said primary and secondary minister S Suresh Kumar.

Kumar said the government is involved in meeting the education sector’s changed priorities in the current scenario.

The minutes were of a virtual conference on school-safety plans, with representatives of state governments and Union territories expressing views on reopening of schools. 

Against the name of Karnataka, “After September 1” was written. Similar datelines were given by Kerala, Ladakh, Manipur, Rajasthan, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, while in case of many other states it said “no decision”.

An education department official said Karnataka submitted to MHRD that it will be able to take a decision only after September 1, depending on the situation in the state.

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 31: The Kerala government

on Tuesday rejected concerns of community spread of novel coronavirus in the state in the wake of the second death of a patient here who had no travel history or reported contact with any infected person.

Setting aside the concern, Health Minister K K Shylaja said the deceased man, a native of nearby Pothancode, was already suffering from several other health issues including high blood pressure.

The 68-yearold man died at the government medical college here, taking the total number of COVID-19 deaths in Kerala to two, the government said.

"We have got information that the deceased man had come in contact with some persons arrived from the Gulf. As he was very sick and was not in a position to speak, we could not collect details from him directly," she told reporters here.

"So we had to collect such details from his relatives now. As per preliminary assessment, it was a case of contact spread. So, as of now, there is no need to get panic about the community spread," she said

The possibility of death was high among patients, aged above 60 years and suffering from other diseases like heart ailments or diabetics, she said.

"That's why we are giving strict directions to the elderly people to remain in homes and avoid contact with infected persons, " the minister said.

However, the minister directed those came in contact with the deceased person to remain in self-quarantine and inform the authorities if they developed any infection symptoms.

In both the coronavirus deaths in the state, the deceased persons were aged and were suffering from other diseases, she added.

Bengaluru, May 22: Amid the fourth phase of nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, inter-state travel from Karnataka is now permitted with the consent of the receiving state, informed Praveen Sood, Karnataka Director General of Police (DGP) and Inspector General (IG).

"Inter-state pass is not required to go out of Karnataka as long as you have the consent of the receiving state," he said.

The order follows MHA's recent announcement of relaxed guidelines amid the nationwide lockdown.

"Due to lockdown, migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons are stranded at different places. They would be allowed to move as under," read the new guidelines while asking states to designate nodal authorities to facilitate the interstate movement.

The Centre has extended the lockdown till May 31 across the country.