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Mysuru, May 1: Four people who brought a dead man’s body from Mumbai for cremation in his native place in Mandya district in Karnataka have tested positive for Covid-19 virus, and now the administration is trying to find out if the man himself had been an undetected positive.

According to Mandya district deputy commissioner M V Venkatesh, the deceased man was a 53-year-old native of B Kodagalli of Pandavapura taluk, Melkote hobli in Mandya district. He died after suffering a heart attack at the U N Desai government hospital in Mumbai on April 23.

The cremation took place outside the man's native village after the local administration refused to allow it inside the village.

Wanting the final rites performed in his native place, the man’s family got the body embalmed and procured all the medical records and certificates from the hospital and brought it in an ambulance belonging to the Desai government hospital.

When they reached Pandavapura taluk in Karnataka on the evening of April 24, the local administration did not allow the body to enter the village but allowed the relatives to cremate it outside the village.

And since the family had come from Mumbai, the district administration quarantined all seven of the man’s relatives, and their samples were sent for testing on 28 April.

The results showed that the deceased man’s 25-year-old son, daughter-in-law, daughter, and two-year-old grandchild are positive for Covid 19. All of them have been admitted at the Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences although they have no symptoms.

Deputy commissioner Venkatesh said that in the Desai hospital records in Mumbai there was no mention whether or not the man had been tested for Covid-19. “We are writing to Desai hospital to clarify if the deceased person was tested for Covid 19. It is also possible that the family got infected by the man’s son who works in the loan department of ICICI Bank in Mumbai and visits several offices in different areas of Mumbai,” he said.

The man’s ancestral B Kodagalli village now has been sealed off. Though tests done on other members of the family have come back negative, the Mandya administartions plans to repeat their tests.

So far 26 people have tested positive for Covid 19 in Mandya district.

Bengaluru, Jun 29: Bengaluru continued to see a sharp spike in covid- 19 cases as 738 more people tested positive on Monday that took the city's tally to 4052 of which 3427 is active.

The surge in Bengaluru pushed up the number of positive cases to 1105 across Karnataka. The total number of cases in Karnataka now stands at 14,295 of which 6382 are active.

The death toll stood at 230 as 19 more people died in the 24 hours till 5 pm on Monday.

Karnataka, particularly Bengaluru, has seen a sharp rise in cases over the last two weeks indicating the possibility of community transmission and further rise in cases.

Estimates by government authorities project that Karnataka will have around 25,000 cases by mid-August.

R.Ashok, the revenue minister incharge of covid- 19 in Bengaluru on Monday told doctors that they would have to dedicate another six months to contain the virus indicating that authorities were expecting the case count to rise in subsequent days and months.

The city reported over 3,200 cases since 19 June as against 844 cases between 8 March and 18 June.

There are around 500 containment zones in Bengaluru that is likely to have an impact of business and activities in the state's growth capital and its efforts to revive the economy.

The state government on Monday held meetings with private hospitals to increase the number of beds available for treatment of covid- 19.

The number of people in intensive careunits (ICU) jumped to 268.

Bengaluru, Feb 5: Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday said that he has demanded a report on the Shaheen School incident after reports emerged that children were allegedly interrogated by the police for hours at a stretch, while not allowing parents to be present.

Terming the incident a very sensitive matter as it involves children, Basavaraj Bommai said, "I have asked for a report on the Shaheen School incident. As it is a very sensitive and serious issue, I have asked the police to handle it carefully."

"I have asked the police to take the help of the women and child protection committee at the district level. However, I have been told that the police had visited the area where the play was done and no interrogation of children in isolation took place. Nevertheless, I have asked the police to handle the issue with care and do everything within the law," Basavaraj added.

The matter pertains to a programme organised as a part of the Republic day celebrations where the children in Shaheen School in Bidar had staged a play against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) had protested alleging that the play at Shaheen School in Bidar was derogatory. In the play, the participants were shown staging an anti-CAA sequence where there were dialogues encouraging non-cooperation with anyone asking for documents. A case was registered against the school management.

Meanwhile, CEO of Shaheen Education Institute, Bidar, Tauseef Madikeri had said, "Police have invoked Sections 124A, 505 and 504 of the IPC against the institution, over a play staged against CAA and NRC. It is beyond anyone's imagination. Deputy SP visited the classroom and interrogated the students."

Karnataka police had sealed the offices of the school after its students participated in the play. Meanwhile, the police had questioned students of Shaheen School after a play against the CAA and NRC was staged during the Republic Day celebrations.

The child rights groups, teachers and educationists had issued a statement condemning the police interrogation in the incident.