Will form govt in Karnataka within 24 hours if BJP wins 22 LS seats: BSY

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.

Mangaluru, Feb 18: Notorious serial killer 'Cyanide' Mohan has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a court here for the murder of a 23-year old woman from Kasaragod district of Kerala in 2006.

That was the 19th of the 20 murder cases slapped against him.

Sixth additional district and sessions court judge Sayeedunnisa  said the life sentence will commence after he serves the sentence of imprisonment in the other cases.

Cyanide Mohan had 20 murder cases registered against him. He is accused of killed several women using cyanide after befriending and raping them.

He has been awarded the death sentence in five cases and life imprisonment in three. Two of the death penalties were later commuted to life imprisonment.

According to the charge sheet in the latest case, Mohan met the woman while she was going to work at a unit of CAMPCO here. After befriending and offering to marry her, on January 3 in 2006, he took her to Mysuru and stayed in a lodge near the bus stand.

Like in all other cases, the next morning, Mohan asked the woman to remove her ornaments. The two went to the KSRTC bus stand where he asked her to consume a pill convincing her that it was a contraceptive. However, it was laced with cyanide.

The woman, who consumed the pill in the washroom, collapsed and was declared brought dead at a hospital.

As in previous cases, Mohan went back to the lodge and left the place along with her ornaments.

He was arrested later from Bantwal in 2009, after which he admitted to killing 20 women.

The judge directed the District Legal Service Authority to take steps to award compensation to the woman's mother under the Karnataka victim compensation scheme.

Bengaluru, Jun 12: Karnataka Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar on Friday said experts have indicated a surge in coronavirus cases in the state after August 15 and the government was taking all precautionary measures in that direction. Speaking to reporters in Ballari, Sudhakar said, "About 97 percent of over 3,000 active cases in the state are asymptomatic.

Experts after studying the developments in other countries and states have said that there will be a surge in infections after August 15."

He said the government was taking all precautionary measures in that direction.

 As of June 11 evening, cumulatively 6,245 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 72 deaths and 2,976 discharges, the health department's bulletin said.

It said, out of 3,195 active cases, 3,185 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 10 are in ICU.

Meanwhile, in a tweet pointing out that nearly 60 per cent of the COVID cases in the country are from 10 cities, Sudhakar said, despite being the fourth most populous city in the country Bengaluru has been successful in containing its spread.

"Nearly 60% of total COVID-19 cases in India are found in 10 cities. Despite being 4th most populous, Bengaluru has been successful in containing spread of virus.

I urge people to keep up the fight, continue vigil & together with #CoronaWarriors we can defeat the virus," Sudhakar tweeted.

Bengaluru that does not figure in the list of 10 cities shared by the Minister has reported 581 coronavirus cases till last evening, out of which 258 are active.