Dubai-bound man held at Mangaluru Airport for possession of 26 passports

Bengaluru, Jul 6: Criminal cases will be registered against private hospitals that refuse treatment to COVID-19 patients, Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference here at Vidhana Soudha, he said: "No hospital should refuse to admit patients and if any hospital is found denying treatment criminal cases will be registered against them."

He spoke to media persons after returning from his surprise visit to Jayanagar General Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Chest Hospital responded to the questions regarding private hospitals refusing to treat covid patients.

"The government has come up with 6 different systems for treatment of COVID-19 patients. COVID care centres, government medical colleges, private medical college, government hospitals, corporate hospitals and home isolation with proper facilities and according to government guidelines," the minister added.

Dr Sudhakar gave the statistics of 4 metropolitan cities in the country including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru.

"Bengaluru's and the mortality rate is the lowest at 1.46%. The aim is to increase testing by optimal utilisation of capacity especially in private labs. Once we increase testing, it is natural that the positive cases will also increase," he said.

"So citizens need not panic due to this but should take all precautionary measures. He advised to get tested in the nearest fever clinics as soon as any symptoms like cough, fever etc are found. Guidelines regarding the home isolation will be released soon," the minister said.

He announced that 400 ambulances will be deployed in Bengaluru and 2 each for every ward.

He said that the government recommended patients at private hospitals will be provided with insurance under Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust.

"If private hospitals refuse to admit the patients, call 1912 helpline to get assistance. If admitted in Private hospital voluntarily the treatment cost will be borne by patients as per the rates fixed by the government," Sudhakar said.

He said that the cost of testing at private labs has been capped at Rs 2,200 as per test.

Bengaluru, April 3: Thirteen people in Karnataka, who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi, have tested positive for coronavirus, said state education minister S Suresh Kumar.

"13 attendees of Delhi's Tablighi Jamaat event have tested COVID-19 positive and 187 were tested negative," said Kumar, who has been entrusted to look into queries related to COVID-19.

He added, "A total number of four COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed today -- a 75-year-old man in Bagalkote, a 70-year-old in Belagavi, a 26-year-old in Belagavi and a 20-year-old in Belagavi."

"The three people from Belagavi had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi," he said, adding that the total number of cases in the state increased to 128.

The reports of 88 other people who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event are yet to be received, the minister said.

The total number of COVID-19 positive cases in India on Friday rose to 2,547 including 162 cured/discharged and 62 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Bengaluru, Apr 22: With seven more people tested positive for COVID-19, the total number of cases now stands at 425 as of date in Karnataka, informed state health department on Wednesday.

Out of the total COVID-19 cases, 17 people have died and 129 have been discharged.
These seven new cases came to light in the last 24 hours.

With 1383 more cases and 50 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, India's total number of positive COVID-19 cases stands at 19,984, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday.