Mangaluru, Nov 16: In a good Samaritan gesture, an Indian Entrepreneur based in Abu Dhabi, had donated rupees 15 lakhs for construction of shelter for the newly born five tiger cubs at the Pilikula Biological Park, here on Friday.
According to official sources, Ramadas Kamath and his wife Jayashri Kamath, having their businesses in Abu Dhabi, had donated funds towards providing shelter to the newly born five tiger cubs in Pilikula Biological park located in the outskirts of the city.
Bengaluru, Jul 11: Karnataka on Saturday reported the biggest single-day spurt of 2,798 cases and a record 70 related fatalities, taking the total number of infections in the state to 36,216, the health department said.
The day also saw a record 880 patients getting discharged after recovery.
Out of 2,798 fresh cases, a whopping 1,533 cases were from Bengaluru urban alone.
The previous biggest single-day spike was recorded on July 10 with 2,313 cases.
As of July 11 evening, cumulatively 36,216 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 613 deaths and 14,716 discharges, the health department said in its bulletin.
It said out of 20,883 active cases, 20,379 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 504 are in ICU.
Out of 70 deaths reported, 23 are from Bengaluru urban, 8 from Mysuru, five from Dakshina Kannada, among others.
Most of the dead are either with a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) or Influenza-like illness (ILI).
Out of 2,798 cases tested positive today, contacts of the majority of the cases are still under tracing.
Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Bengaluru urban accounts for 1533 cases, followed by Dakshina Kannada 186, Udupi 90, Mysuru 83, Tumakuru 78, Dharwad 77 and Yadgir 74.
Bengaluru urban district tops the list of positive cases, with a total of 16,862 infections, followed by DakshinaKannada 2,026 and Kalaburagi 2,024.
A total of 7.99 lakh samples were tested so far, out of which 20,587 were tested on Saturday alone.
So far 7.46 lakh samples have been reported as negative, and out of them 17,488 were reported negative today.
Udupi, Jul 21: Udupi Court complex has been sealed down for two days for sanitisation after a judge tested positive for Covid-19, a source said on Tuesday.
The Covid cases in Udupi district which had reduced recently are once again seeing a spurt. On Monday, as many as 98 have tested positive taking the total cases in the district to 2,321.
Dubai, May 5: Tickets on repatriation flights from UAE to India, which start on May 7, could be costlier than regular airfare, and adding to the financial woes of those flying back. Nearly 200,000 Indians in the UAE have registered on the website seeking to return home.
“A one-way repatriation ticket to Delhi will cost approximately Dh1,400-Dh1,650 - this would earlier have cost between Dh600-Dh700 [during these months],” said Jamal Abdulnazar, CEO of Cozmo Travel. “A one-way repatriation flight ticket to Kerala would cost approximately Dh1,900-Dh2,300.”
This can be quite a burden, as a majority of those taking these flights have either lost their jobs or are sending back their families because of uncertainty on the work front. To now have to pay airfare that is nearly on par with those during peak summer months is quite a blow.
Sources said that officials in Indian diplomatic missions have already initiated calls to some expats, telling them about likely ticket fares and enquiring about their willingness to travel.
Although many believed repatriation would be government-sponsored, Indian authorities have clarified that customers would have to pay for the tickets themselves. Those who thought they were entitled to free repatriation might back out of travel plans for now.
Fact of life
But aviation and travel industry sources say higher rates cannot be escaped since social distancing norms have to be strictly enforced at all times. That would limit the number of passengers on each of these flights.
“One airline can carry only limited passengers - therefore, multiple airlines are likely to get the approval to operate repatriation flights,” said Abdulnazar. “Also, airports will have to maintain safe distance for passengers to queue up at immigration and security counters.
“Therefore, it is recommended that multiple carriers fly into multiple Indian airports for repatriation to be expedited.”
The Indian authorities, so far, have not taken the easy decision to get its private domestic airlines into the rescue act. Gulf News tried speaking to the leading players, but they declined to provide any official statements. So far, only Air India, the national airline, has been commissioned to operate the flights.
Air India finds itself in the driver's seat when it comes to operating India's repatriation flights. To date, there is no confirmation India's private airlines will be allowed to join in.
UAE carriers ready to help out
UAE’s Emirates airline, Etihad, flydubai and Air Arabia are likely to also operate repatriation flights to India after Air India implements the first phase of services.
“We are fully supporting governments and authorities across the flydubai network with their repatriation efforts, helping them to make arrangements for their citizens to return home,” said a flydubai spokesperson.
“We will announce repatriation flights as and when they are confirmed, recognising this is an evolving situation whilst the flight restrictions remain in place.”
An AirArabia spokesperson said the airline is ready to operate repatriation flights when the government tells them to.
Travel agencies likely to benefit
Apart from operating non-scheduled commercial flights, the Indian government is also deploying naval ships to bring expat Indians back. Sources claim the ships are to ferry passengers who cannot afford the repatriation airfares.
Even then, considering the sheer numbers who will want to get on the flights, travel agencies are likely to see a surge in bookings since airline websites alone may not cope with the demand set off in such a short span.
Learn from Gulf governments
In instances when they carried out their own repatriation flights, some GCC governments paid the ticket fares to fly in their citizens. Those citizens who did not have the ready funds could approach their diplomatic mission and aid would be given on a case-to-case basis.
Should Indians wait for normal services to resume?
Industry sources say that those Indians wanting to fly back and cannot afford the repatriation flights should wait for full services to resume once the COVID-19 pandemic settles.
But can those who lost their jobs or seen steep salary cuts stay on without adding to their costs? And is there any guarantee that when flight services resume, ticket rates would be lower than on the repatriation trips.
As such, normal travel is expected to pick up only after the repatriation exercise to several countries is completed. UAE-based travel agencies are not seeing any bookings for summer, which is traditionally the peak holiday season.
“Majority want to stay put unless full confidence is restored,” said Abdulnazar. “I expect full normalcy to be restored not until March 2021.
“People have also taken a hit to their income. Without disposable income, you will curtail your travel.”
What constitutes normalcy?
Airfares are expected to remain high, given the need to keep the middle seats empty to practise safe distance onboard.
“We expect holiday travel to resume by October or November - but, the travel sentiment will not go back to pre-COVID-19 levels anytime soon,” said Manvendra Roy, Vice-President – Commercial at holidayme, an online travel agency. “The need to keep the middle seat vacant will add 30-40 per cent pricing pressure per seat from an airline perspective.
“This will make holidays more expensive.”
As for business travel, it will take some time to recover. Corporate staff are now used to getting work done via conference calls. “Companies will also curtail their travel expenditure since their income has taken a hit,” said Abdulnazar.
Comments
yes. i have seen many. sitting only in workplace and home wont give that kind of scenes. u should visit jungle. atleastu shud watch animal planet or discovery channel. we, human being wont help them and we used to hunt them also.
give the money to poor human bieng, GOD will take care the animal...
did you see anywhere animal die in hunger.
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