345 journalists in Bengaluru test negative for coronavirus

Bengaluru, Apr 13: Eminent scientist and NITI Aayog member V K Saraswat said on Monday the number of COVID- 19 cases is not going to go beyond what's being reported daily in India as he maintained that the country is in the process of flattening the curve.

The former Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister said the coronavirus positive cases have seen a sharper rise in the last four-five days because of increase in the number of testing.

"It's a good sign; all those asymptomatic cases lying hidden they are also coming out," Saraswat told PTI. "We certainly had a catalytic factor which was basically this (Nizamuddin) Markaz problem which has actually created clusters at different places and that has also been one of the factors for the kind of rise that has taken place."

But he said India is in a much better shape compared to other nations in the battle against COVID-19. "I can only say that the rate is not going to go beyond what has been going on now, may be 700 to 800 cases per day. So, we are in the process of flattening the curve."

The government's decision to declare nation-wide lockdown has paid dividends, Saraswat, a former chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, said.

Noting that India has seen a series of virus attacks in the last 15-20 years including Chikungunya and Dengue, he said the emphasis now should be on more and more R & D to find vaccines in advance.

Kasaragod, May 30: Karnataka origin IPS officer D Shilpa has been appointed the new Superintendent of Police of Kasargod district.

The 35-year-old 2016-batch IPS officer is the first woman SP of Kasaragod. 

Her appointment follows the sudden transfer of P S Sabu who was hitherto holding the post. He has now been appointed as SP of Alappuzha.

Shilpa has earlier served as ASP of Kasargod. She was also ASP of Kannur during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Shilpa was one of the three IPS officers assigned to Kasaragod with IG Vijay Sakhare during the first phase of covid lockdown.

A native of HSR Layout in Bengaluru, Shilpa holds a Bachelor's degree in Electronics Engineering and a Masters Degree in Business Administration.

Bengaluru, Apr 26: Three new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Karnataka in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases in the state to 503 as per Karnataka government.

There are 302 active COVID-19 cases in Karnataka presently, while 182 patients have been discharged, 19 deaths have been reported, state government informed.

The total number of positive coronavirus cases across the country are 26,917, including 20,177 active cases of the virus. So far, 5,913 patients have either been cured or discharged while 826 deaths have been recorded in the country, as per data provided by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.