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Bengaluru, Mar 29: There was no shortage of masks and testing kits for detecting coronavirus cases in Karnataka and the government would import them if a need arose, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Sunday said.

Apprising leaders of political parties on measures taken by his government to combat spread of coronavirus, he also told an all-party meeting that the government has decided to provide life insurance cover to police and civil workers and has taken extra precautions to maintain supply of food grains.

"There is no shortage of testing kits, medicines and masks. If there is need, we will import more... We will distribute testing kits to all the district and Taluk hospitals," he was quoted as saying in a government release.

The state has so far reported 76 COVID-19 cases including three deaths and five discharges.

At the meeting held in the Vidhana Soudha here, former chief minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah said there were shortcomings in the screening of passengers coming from abroad and stressed on the need to maintain supply of essentials.

Yediyurappa said supply of foodgrains would be made through Public Distribution System and the government had taken extra precautions to avoiod any difficulties.

He told the leaders that there was no restriction on agriculture activities in the state.

"I have been regularly holding meetings since March 13 regarding the measures taken to contain the transmission of COVID-19," the chief minister said.

Health Minister B Sriramulu, Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar, IT-BT Minister C N Aswath Narayan, Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi, Siddaramaiah, JD(S) MLAs H D Revanna, D K Shivakumar and former speaker K R Ramesh Kumar attended the meeting.

Yediyurappa said a task force comprising of ministers and officials has been formed to oversee the implementation of the government orders in view of the 21-day lockdown.

He highlighted the prevailing situation across the globe saying normal life has been paralysed everywhere.

The chief minister also brifed the leaders about the number of clinics all over the state, availability of medicines and protection gear for the doctors and in quarantine rooms in the state.

Flagging concerns over screening process, Siddaramaiah said around 4,500 people were yet to be tracked, which need to be taken up on a warfooting.

"The government is saying that we have not reached the third stage but in Nanjangud, a person contracted the disease though he does not have any travel history. This must be probed," he said.

The former former chief minister asked the government to make sure that the free distribution of food grains to weaker sections take place without any difficulty from April 1, as announced by the Central government.

He objected to police 'excesses' while enforcing lockdown.

Siddaramaiah also asked government to bring the police personnel under special insurance cover.

Bengaluru, Mar 27: India should take a cue from the UK and Italy and allow final year medical students to skip exam and bring them into the hospital system immediately to fight the war against COVID-19, noted cardiac surgeon Devi Prasad Shetty on Friday said.

The Chairman and Founder of the city-based Narayana Health said there should be some reforms in medical education like the UK and Italy.
In the UK, he noted, final year medical students have been told that they don't need to appear for the exam, and they will be given pass based on the past performance and they can get into the hospital system to fill the shortage.

Italy got 10,000 more doctors following the move to cut short the duration of MBBS by nine months, according to him.

COVID-19 battle can be only won by young doctors and young nurses. Its like a war, Shetty told PTI.

He said: Senior doctorsnone of them will be able to touch the patients because they are past the age of 50. A person who is past the age of 50 is very vulnerable himself.

This is a very contagious disease. "But we dont have that many battalion (of doctors). We need one and half lakh doctors to manage all these government
hospitals and private hospitals (to fight COVID-19)", he added.

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Jammu, Jan 25: People in Jammu and Kashmir expressed happiness over the restoration of mobile data services and internet access through fixed-line across the Union Territory on Saturday.

Speaking to ANI Jitendra Sharma, a resident of Jammu said, "The government has taken a good decision. People had been facing hardship for a long period and I think it will improve further."

"It is a big relief to people. People can finish their pending work. I hope that 4G services will also be resumed soon," said a resident of Kashmir.

The internet speed is restricted to 2G only.

"Access shall be limited only to whitelisted sites and not to any social media applications allowing peer to peer communication and virtual private network applications. Directions shall be effective from January 25 and will remain in force till January 31," the statement by the government read.

Earlier on January 15, 2G services were reinstated in Jammu, Samba, Kathua, and Udhampur for white-listed sites.

The Central government had suspended the internet in the region following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution on August 5 last year, which conferred special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and its bifurcation into two Union Territories -- Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir.