Mangaluru prone to earthquakes, says survey

Bengaluru, Mar 3: Minister of Medical Education K Sudhakar on Tuesday said that there is no need to panic as appropriate measures have been taken by the state government to tackle a possible Coronavirus outbreak.

"I request the media not to spread panic and support the government in dealing with any possible Coronavirus outbreak. With the help of the Centre we have taken all required precautionary measures to deal with any situation," Sudhakar told reporters.

Talking about the first confirmed case in Telangana, who had stopped over in Bengaluru, the Minister said, "His flatmates and 23 people who travelled with him from Karnataka are being screened. Both the state (Karnataka and Telangana) government are taking care of them."

"Out of the 295 samples collected so far, 240 tested samples tested negative. We are awaiting more results as of now. There are two labs. One in RGICS and another in Bangaluru Medical College where tests are being carried out," he said.

On Monday, the first confirmed case of a Novel Coronavirus in Telangana was reported from Hyderabad when a 24-year-old man, who had come in contact with some Hong Kong citizens, while he was in Dubai on February 17, tested positive for the virus.

After arriving in Bengaluru on February 20 and travelled to Hyderabad by bus on February 22.

Meanwhile, Telangana Health Minister Eatala Rajender on Sunday said that the state government is on a high alert since the confirmation of one Coronavirus positive case here.

The Health Department has also issued an advisory to all educational institutes.

Bengaluru, Mar 11: With the outbreak of coronavirus, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Tuesday said that over 1,000 people in the state have been identified for observation.

"So far, 1048 people have been identified for observation. Out of which 446 samples have been sent for testing. 389 samples have tested negative. Four samples have tested positive," Chief Minister Yediyurappa told reporters.

Earlier today, Health Minister B Sriramulu said that family members of those who tested positive for COVID-19 have been isolated and their health is being monitored.

Bengaluru, May 20: An Air India flight from Dammam in Saudi Arabia landed here with 161 passengers, including 85 for Karnataka and 76 to Hyderabad, an official said on Wednesday. Among Karnataka passengers there were both Bengalureans and Mangalureans.

"AIC-1910 (Airbus A321-211) landed at the city airport at 8.45 p.m. and 85 passengers, including 9 women and one infant alighted here, while 76 will fly to Hyderabad," the airline official said. 

The flight was 45 minutes behind schedule to Bengaluru.

The airline staff and the state government officials received the returnees in the arrival terminal and gave them masks to wear and sanitizer to wash hands.

All the passengers would be screened with thermal device to read their body temperature though only asymptomatic were flown back.

After completing formalities, including immigration check and filling the self-declaration form, the returnees were taken in state-run buses in batches for 14-day institutional quarantine in hotels and resorts across the city.

Passengers have to download the mandatory Quarantine app on their mobile phone before leaving the airport for contact tracing later.

Another evacuation flight from Kuala Lampur in Malaysia to Bengaluru has been cancelled due to Amphan cyclone over the Bay of Bengal that hit the Odisha and West Bengal on the east coast.

The service was the fourth to the southern state in the second phase of Vande Bharat Mission, the national carrier and its Express arm are operating to repatriate thousands of Indians, including distressed workers, migrants, students, senior citizens and tourists, stranded overseas since the government suspended international flights on March 23 and enforced an extended lockdown on March 25 to combat Covid-19 spread.

The first flight in the second phase landed on Monday night at Mangaluru on the state's west coast, with 177 passengers from Dubai in the UAE.

The second flight to the southern state from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia landed here (Bengaluru) on Tuesday evening, with 94 passengers.

The third flight from Muscat in Oman landed here at 6.31 p.m. on Wednesday evening and at Mangaluru on the state's west coast at 8.01 p.m.

The remaining flights to Karnataka will land in Bengaluru and Mangaluru over the next 13 days till June 3 from 12 more destinations the world over.

In the first phase of the mission from May 7-17, the airline and its arm flew 6 flights to the state from May 11-15, bringing in 800 passengers, including 623 to Bengaluru and 177 to Mangaluru from London, Singapore, San Francisco and Dubai.