Ullal is hub of ganja mafia and communal gangs; govt doing nothing: SDPI

Mangaluru, May 11: The first evocation flight from Dubai to Mangaluru amidst corona crisis is expected to bring back 177 stranded Kannadigas, mainly residents of coastal Karnataka, on Tuesday, May 12.

All the international passengers have to undergo three mandatory upon their arrival at Mangaluru International Airport - the thermal test, pulse oximetry reading and swab test.

They will be categorised based on their health condition and sent to institutional quarantine, said Sindhu B Rupesh, deputy commissioner, Dakshina Kannada.

“Those with some health issues on arrival (Category A) will be ferried through ambulances to quarantine facilities and rest in buses,” she said.

Arriving passengers will be given the option to choose their quarantine home (lodge, hostel and service apartment) based on their budget and preference.

It is learnt that Dakshina Kannada district administration has kept ready close to 1,000 rooms. The tariff for quarantine facilities is between Rs 1,200 and Rs 4,500 (including food) per day.

As per the Karnataka government, as on May 6, about 10,823 stranded expatriates are expected to return home.

The CISF, airport authorities, health and police departments will make arrangements for the arriving repatriates at MIA.

Sindhu said that the district administration has no personal information about the arriving passengers and there is high probability that they may belong to other districts or the neighbouring Kerala.

“So far, the district administration has received the missive that 177 passengers will be landing on May 12. If we are given advance details about the expats from other districts/state, the district administration will alert them to make necessary arrangements,” she said.

Bengaluru, Apr 17: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Thursday served a show cause notice to a Kannada news channel for broadcasting a programme in which it purportedly said that the Centre would 'air drop money' to the poor, owing to the COVID-19 lockdown.

The notice said that the channel was "spreading false information, creating panic and social unrest.

" The channel had allegedly aired a show titled, "Helicopter Money" on Wednesday which claimed that the Centre would drop money from helicopters during the lockdown period.

A Twitter user took a serious note of it and complained to the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar.

The fact check team of the Press Information Bureau, under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, refuted the claim.

In its notice to the channel, PIB said, "You are hereby directed to show cause why your channel should not be taken out of air immediately. You are instructed to send your reply in this regard within 10 days of receipt of this notice."

Reacting to the notice, the management of the news channels said, "A programme which has been seen in bits and pieces and those who have not even seen the programme appears to have complained. Notice will be replied accordingly."

Bengaluru, Mar 23: The Karnataka government on Monday decided to purchase 1,000 ventilators from medical devices company Skanray Technologies and five lakh Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), amid rising COVID-19 cases.

Health Minister B Sriramulu convened a meeting with officials to review the situation in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, and with the Mysuru-based firm through a video conference.

"In the meeting, it was decided to buy 1,000 ventilators immediately", the Minister tweeted.

He said the government has already taken steps to buy ten lakh masks, and decided to purchase five lakh PPE.

"The Health Department has been working on a war- footing to halt the spread of the (COVID-19) infections", Sriramulu tweeted.

The Minister appealed to the citizens to strictly follow social distancing.

Six new COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Karnataka on Sunday, taking the total number of infections to the respiratory disease to 26 -- the highest number of positive cases in a single day in the State.

The Karnataka government has announced shutdown of all commercial activities barring essential services in nine districts, where COVID-19 cases have been reported, till March 31.

They are: Bengaluru city, Bengaluru Rural, Mangaluru, Mysuru, Kalaburagi, Dharwad, Chikkaballapura, Kodagu and Belagavi, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said.