Former Karnataka Governor T N Chatruvedi passes away

Bengaluru, Jun 5: Karnataka registered its highest single-day spike of more than 500 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of infections in the state to 4,835, the health department said on Friday.

The previous biggest single-day spurt was recorded on June 2 with 388 cases.

Of the 515 fresh cases reported, 482 are returnees from other states, mostly (about 471) from neighboring Maharashtra. Udupi district saw a major spike with over 200 cases today and the total tally of the district breaching seven hundred cases mark, to stand at 768.

As of June 5 evening, cumulatively 4,835 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 57 deaths and 1,688 discharges, the department said in its bulletin.

It said, out of 3,088 active cases, 3,075 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 13 are in ICU.

On Friday, 83 patients have been discharged.

According to state COVID-19 war room data, out of the total 4,835 cases, 93 per cent (4,488 cases) are asymptomatic and 7 per cent (347) are symptomatic.

The new cases include 471 from Maharashtra, three from Delhi, two each from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Haryana, and one from Tamil Nadu.

While one is with international travel history from Indonesia. Remaining cases include- contacts of patients earlier tested positive, those from containment zones, those who travelled from other districts, and the ones whose contact history is still being traced.

Among the districts where new cases were reported, Udupi accounts for 204 cases, followed by 74 from Yadgir, Vijayapura 53, Kalaburagi 42, Bidar 39, Belagavi 36, Mandya 13, Bengaluru Rural 12, Bengaluru Urban 10, Dakshina Kannada 8, Uttara Kannada 7, three each from Hassan, Dharwad and Chikkaballapura, two each from Ramanagara and Haveri, and one each from Davangere, Bagalkote, Ballari and Kolar.

Udupi district tops the list of positive cases, with a total of 768 infections, followed by Kalaburagi 552 and Bengaluru urban 434.

Among discharges, Bengaluru urban still tops the list with total 271 discharges, followed by Davangere 147 and Mandya 146.

A total of 3,60,720 samples were tested so far, out of which 13,627 were tested on Friday alone.

So far 3,49,951 samples have reported as negative, and out of them 12,797 were reported negative on Friday.

Bengaluru, Jun 23: In an attempt to avoid exploitation of patients affected with coronavirus, the Karnataka government on Tuesday announced fixing charges that could be collected from patients by the private hospitals for treatment in the State.

There are now two sets of rates for patients--those who are referred by public health facilities and those who approach private hospitals directly.

According to the notification issued by State Chief Secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar on Tuesday, 50 per cent of the total beds in private hospitals having facilities to treat Covid-19 patients shall be reserved for the treatment of patients referred by public health authorities.

This will include the high-dependency unit and ICU (intensive care unit) beds both with and without ventilators. The hospitals may utilise the remaining Covid beds for admitting Covid-19 patients privately.

Bengaluru, May 24:The first 'Sunday curfew' imposed by the Karnataka government to try and contain the spread of COVID-19 got underway in the state today, with people by and large adhering to norms, roads wearing a deserted look and almost no vehicular traffic, barring essential services.

With barricades being up across most roads in the state, people ventured out only to purchase groceries, vegetabes and medicines.

Instances of violation of Sunday curfew lockdown norms were reported in COVID-19 hotspots of Shivajinagar and Rayapura in Bengaluru and Nelamangala and Devanahalli.

Temples, malls, bars, eateries and small food joints remained shut throughout state.

In most parts of the state buses, autorickshaws and cabs did not ply.

In Bengaluru, the ever bustling Majestic area, which houses the central city bus stand, inter-city bus stand, Metro Railway Station and the City Railway Station, did not see any activity as buses did not ply and all shops were shut, police said.

Reports from Mysuru, Tumakuru, Kolar, Mangaluru, Udupi and other towns across the state said there were no lockdown violations.

Amid the rigid curfew marriages were conducted in a simple manner in various parts of the state like Gollarahatti and Yashwanthapura in Bengaluru and also in Davangere.

Families of the brides and grooms invited only a few people for the event, adhered to social distancing norms and wore masks.

In Gollarahatti, the event organisers cleaned the road, after which the invitees, who were hardly 25 to 30 in number, sat down to have a feast.

The Karnataka government had eased restrictions during Lockdown 4 for start of economic activities like city buses, inter-district bus service, intrastate train services, opening of shops and markets.

However, the government had made it clear that there will be 'Janata Curfew' every Sunday during which only essential services would be permitted.