When ‘We, the People of India’ Assembled at Adyar on the 15th of January, 2020

Mumbai, Mar 16: Shri Sai Baba sansthan trust on sunday appealed to devotees to postpone their visit to Shirdi for a few days in view of coronavirus outbreak in the country.

"As per the directives of the government, I request the devotees to postpone their visit to Shirdi for a few days," said Arun Dogre, Chief Executive Officer of Shri Sai Baba sansthan trust, Shirdi.

On Saturday, the Siddhivinayak temple located in Prabhadevi has instructed all its employees to wear masks, while hand sanitizers have been provided to everyone inside the temple.

Speaking to news agency,Siddhivinayak trust chairman , Adesh Bandekar had said, "We are providing sanitizers to all the devotees in the temple and where they stand in a queue holding the railings, are being cleaned in every 30 minutes."

Coronavirus, which originated in China's Wuhan city, has so far spread to more than 100 countries infecting over 1,20,000 people. In India, 107 persons, including foreign nationals were tested positive till March 15 at 12 pm.

Ballari, June 30: A video clip of dead bodies of covid-19 victims being disgracefully thrown into a pit said to be in Karnataka’s Ballari has gone viral on social media triggering outrage from netizens.

Ballari Deputy Commissioner SS Nakul ordered a probe. He told media persons that the veracity of the video is still under question and that it still needs to be established if the video was taken in Ballari.

In the video, a pit is seen which appears to be disinfected. The video features masked men covered in body suits bringing dead bodies from a black hearse van in black body bags one by one and throwing the dead bodies into the same pit. In all, three dead bodies are thrown into the same pit in the video.

"We have assigned an Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) to enquire and verify the same. We are awaiting reports. We don't know yet if it (the video) is from Ballari or not," Nakul said.

The district which has so far reported around 800 cases in the last three months has also witnessed around two dozen deaths.

Twitterati on Tuesday raised questions about the handling of the bodies. "Even dead have some respect and they deserved a decent burial," said a social activist from Ballari. Similar reactions echoed on social media and some also pointed out on how the family members who have to stay away from burials feel about it.

Covid burial protocol

According to the protocol set by the Union Health Ministry for the burial of Covid-19 patients, the patients' orifices (nose, mouth and ears) have to be sealed and the body has to be wrapped in three layers of personal protective equipment (PPE). Thereafter it should be placed in a body bag. Family members should not be allowed to accompany the body in the hearse van. Covid-19 victims have to be given a deep burial. The grave should be minimum 10-feet deep.

The grave should be disinfected with bleaching powder and the area should be cordoned off so that the general public is not in the vicinity.  The vehicle used to transport the dead body of a Covid-19 victim -- ambulance or a hearse van -- has to be disinfected for 16 hours before being used again. Most Covid-19 victims in the state have had burials in the absence of family members as they are generally in quarantine for being the primary contacts of the patient.

Karnataka | Covid victims’ bodies thrown into pit; probe ordered after video goes viral pic.twitter.com/gOykDU7UKn

— coastaldigest.com (@coastaldigest) June 30, 2020

Udupi, May 25: In an early morning robbery, two miscreants snatched around 1.2 kilo grams of gold jewelleries from a jeweller and ran away in Udupi.

The incident took place at around 5:30 am near Beedinagudde junction when jeweller Vijay was carrying the gold for lapidary work from his house at Bannanje to his store at Sri Laxmi Towar in Beedinagudde. 

They bumped into him when he going to the second floor of the Sri Laxmi Towar.

According to him, the miscreants who were wearing helmets threatened him with a knife then robbed jewelleries worth around Rs 50 lakh.

While decamping, the robbers also snatched his mobile phone and threw down from building.

Udupi town police conducted the spot investigation and registered a case. Further investigations are on.