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Kalaburagi, May 16: Former Karnataka Minister Dr Sharanprakash Patil, who was booked for violating COVID-19 imposed lockdown guidelines said on Friday that it was "politically motivated".

"It's politically motivated, the officer who filed the case was forced by MLA or some other people. As elected representatives, we're going in the constituencies, listening to people as they're apprehensive about the return of migrants. We had not conducted any meeting. Wherever we have gone we have followed social distancing," Patil said.

Patil said, "When I had gone there people came to discuss about a local problem and I was talking to an official concerned. In the meantime, some officer gave a complaint that we have violated the lockdown or something."

"They are trying to curb the voice of opposition because there are a lot of lacunae. We hear complaints about quarantine centres that there is no proper facility for food, or stay, or bathrooms," the Congress leader said.

The FIR was registered on Thursday against 23 persons, including the former MLA and 21 local Congress leaders, under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Congress leader Patil and his followers had conducted a meeting at a convention hall in Sulpeth town on May 13, following which sectoral magistrate Muneer Ahmed lodged a complaint.

Bengaluru, Jul 8: Karnataka on Wednesday reported the biggest single-day spike of 2,062 coronavirus cases and a record 54 fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 28,877 and the death count to 470, the health department said.

778 COVID-19 patients were also discharged after recovery in the state.

Out of the fresh cases reported today, 1,148 cases were reported from Bengaluru alone with 22 deaths.

The previous biggest single-day spike was recorded on July 5 with 1,925 cases.

As of July 8 evening, cumulatively 28,877 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 470 deaths and 11,876 discharges, the health department said in its bulletin.

It said out of 16,527 active cases, 16,075 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and stable, while 452 are in ICU.

The dead include 22 from Bengaluru urban, Dharwad seven, Ballari four, three each from Hassan and Raichur, two each from Ramanagara, Chikkaballapura, Vijayapura, Tumakuru, Mysuru, and one each from Bidar, Dakshina Kannada, Kalaburagi, Chikkamagaluru and Bengaluru rural.

Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Bengaluru urban accounted for 1,148 cases, followed by Dakshina Kannada 183, Dharwad 89, Kalaburagi 66, fifty nine each from Ballari and Mysuru, Bengaluru rural 37, Ramanagara 34, Chikkaballapura 32, 31 each from Udupi and Haveri, Bidar 29, Belagavi 27, Hassan 26, and 24 each from Bagalkote and Tumakuru.

While Chikkamagaluru reported 23 cases, it was 20 in Mandya, Uttara Kannada 19, Davangere 18, 17 each from Raichur and Shivamogga, Kolar 16, 11 each from Yadgir and Koppal, Gadag five, Vijayapura four, and Chitradurga two.

Bengaluru urban district tops the list of positive cases, with 12,509 infections, followed by Kalaburagi 1,816 and Dakshina Kannada 1,534.

Among discharges, Bengaluru urban tops the list with 2,228 discharges, followed by Kalabuagi 1,351 and Udupi 1,178.

A total of 7,59,181 samples were tested so far, out of which 19,134 were tested on Wednesday alone.

According to the bulletin, so far 7,11,319 samples have been reported as negative, and out of them 16,503 were reported negative today.

Bengaluru, Jul 13: In an attempt to avoid the ugly scene of migrant workers walking to their native places due to the current week-long lockdown imposed in the state, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is running 1,600 additional buses on Monday and Tuesday to help them return safely.

The KSRTC has already run 249 additional buses from the State capital and has so far ferried 6,641 passengers and 231 buses have been booked.

The KSRTC appealed to the public not to panic as additional buses have been deployed. "After ensuring social distance and conducting thermal screening, passengers will be allowed to travel. It has already been planned to operate additional buses," the corporation stated in a press release here.