Upalokayukta unearths Rs 22-cr fodder scam in Tumakuru goshalas

Kasaragod, May 25: An autorickshaw driver from Belur in Kasaragod was admitted for surgery to a hospital after being hit on the head by a falling jackfruit. He was tested positive for the coronavirus. It is not clear how he contracted the viral infection.

“While he was trying to pluck a jackfruit off a tree, one of them fell on him, injuring his spine. His hands and legs were weakened too. His condition required surgery. Our protocol dictates that we subject everyone who require immediate surgery to the covid test, just to be sure. That’s when he tested positive,” said Dr K Sudeep, superintendent of the Pariyaram Medical College in Kannur.

“He had symptoms of Covid-19. But he has no recent travel history or contact with any infected person. We’re not sure if he got it through one of his passengers in the rickshaw. He had visited the district hospital once so he could have got it from there. Anyway, we are examining it and preparing the route maps,” he added.

His family will be quarantined and health workers have begun to trace his immediate primary contacts.

Though there have been a number of cases in Kerala where a person’s source of infection could not be correctly ascertained, such people have gone on to recover without spreading the infection to others.

The Kerala government is conducting testing of high-risk persons on the frontlines, such as police officials, grocery vendors and health workers, as part of its sentinel surveillance programme, but maintains that there’s little evidence of a community spread in the state.

Kochi, Apr 18: The Centre on Friday informed the Kerala High Court that there was no immediate plan to bring back the Indian citizens stranded in the Gulf countries due to the novel coronavirus outbreak and that the expatriates had been granted visa extension.

The counsel for the central government made the submission before a division bench comprising justices Rajavijayaraghavan and T R Ravi during the hearing of a plea seeking a direction to bring back Indians stranded in the UAE.

Permission of the Gulf countries was required to send medical teams there to carry out medical examination of the stranded Indians, the counsel said when the court sought to know the Centre's view on Kerala government sending medical teams to the Gulf countries to deal with the issue of COVID-19 disease among Malayalees there.

The court posted the plea for April 21 for consideration after the Central government informed that a similar petition is under consideration of the Supreme Court.

In its plea, Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC) in Dubai, the organisation for non-resident Indians from Kerala, sought directions to the Ministries of External Affairs and Civil Aviation to provide exemptions in the international air travel ban to bring back Indians stranded in the UAE.

The petitioners noted that those who return could be kept in quarantine as per the protocol of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Bengaluru, Jun 12: The Central government has identified Karnataka's Udupi and Yadgir among the "emerging districts of concern" for COVID-19 in the country. Confirming the development, a top official of the state health department said, "they (centre) had reviewed these two districts a few days back...there was a sudden spurt of cases due to Maharashtra returnees turning positive." Sources said union cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba, during a recent video conference with state chief secretaries and health secretaries, had shared his thoughts on the issue.

According to the information shared, districts with more than 400 cases, half of which was reported post-May 18 lockdown relaxation, have been identified as "emerging districts of concern." They are concentrated in the seven states/union territories of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana. "Udupi and Yadgir from Karnataka, along with Gurugram in Haryana and Kolhapur in Maharashtra have 90 per cent of the cases recorded after May 18," they said.

As on June 11 evening, Udupi had a total of 969 positive cases, out of which 619 are active, while 735 positive cases have been reported in Yadgir, out of which 626 are active. The two districts had reported a total of only 11 cases each as on May 18. While Udupi till last evening had seen 349 discharges, it was 108 in Yadgir.

Both districts have reported one COVID related fatality so far. As of June 11 evening, cumulatively 6,245 COVID-19 positive cases were confirmed in the state, which included 72 deaths and 2,976 discharges.