VBM repatriation flight from Dammam lands in Mangaluru

New Delhi, Apr 19: The government on Sunday prohibited the sale of non-essential items through e-commerce platforms during the ongoing lockdown, four days after allowing such companies to sale mobile phones, refrigerators and ready-made garments.

Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla issued an order excluding the non-essential items from sale by the e-commerce companies from the consolidated revised guidelines, which listed the exemption given to the services and people from the purview of the lockdown.

The order said the following clause -- "E-commerce companies. Vehicles used by e-commerce operators will be allowed to ply with necessary permissions" -- is excluded from the guidelines.

The previous order had said such items were allowed for sale through e-commerce platforms from April 20.

However, the reason for reversing the order is not known immediately.

Mangaluru, July 14: In order to detect COVID-19 cases quickly in Dakshina Kannada, the government has commissioned a programme to administer rapid antigen tests.

The coastal district has already received 3,500 rapid antigen test kits, which can give results in 30 minutes, an official said, adding that tests will be conducted shortly and training is being imparted on the use of the kits.

The antigen tests will be conducted for emergency cases like delivery, surgery, persons with severe symptoms of Covid-19, multiple-organ failure and for those whose condition is critical. 

"If a symptomatic patient tests negative for Covid-19, then his throat swab sample would be sent for lab testing," the district health officer (DHO) said.

The rapid antigen tests is expected to help in increasing the number of tests and bring down the load of testing on labs, as antigen kits allow faster diagnosis.

It takes a minimum of eight hours to get the results via real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test. Antigen tests can provide results within half an hour.

New Delhi, Feb 13: Two SpiceJet pilots have been suspended today for an improper landing at Mangalore Airport which damaged three runway edge lights. The incident took place on October 31 last year when the private carrier's Boeing 737 aircraft was returning from Dubai.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) suspended the licenses of the pilots for four-and-half months from the date of the incident.

DGCA had issued a show cause notice to the Pilot in Command and the First Officer demanding explanation of the "lapses" and found their replies unsatisfactory, the aviation watchdog said in a statement.

Investigation revealed that the touchdown was improper as it deviated to the the left on the runway in turn damaging three runway edge lights.