Will Hindu women be permitted inside churches and mosques, asks Pratap Simha

Bengaluru, Jul 24: A government doctor who was turned away by three private hospitals because he could not produce a coronavirus test result passed away today in Bengaluru. Dr Manjunath, who was a frontline COVID-19 doctor, was allegedly turned away by hospitals when he was extremely ill and struggling to breathe.

Dr Manjunath worked in the state Health and Family Welfare department and was based in Ramanagara district, around 50 km from Bengaluru.

D Randeep, a Special Officer with the Bengaluru municipal body BBMP, said that the hospitals that had refused to admit Dr Manjunath would be reported to the health department.

In June-end, Dr Manjunath went to Rajashekhar Hospital in JP Nagar, BGS Global Hospital in Kengeri and Sagar hospital in Kumaraswamy Layout. All three demanded to see his COVID-19 test result but those were still not in at the time, according to his family. His brother-in-law Nagendra is also a doctor with BBMP and in charge of allotting hospital beds, yet he was completely helpless when it came to his own relative.

He was finally admitted to Sagar hospital on June 25 when his family sat in protest on the footpath outside the Dayananda Sagar campus. He was placed on ventilator and later shifted to the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, where he died earlier today. The hospital says Dr Manjunath was discharged on July 9 because he wanted plasma therapy.

Six members of his family, including a 14-year-old, tested COVID-19 positive. Most of them have recovered.

Bengaluru has seen several cases of patients being turned away from hospitals in the city. Hospitals say they need Covid test results to know whether to admit patients in the coronavirus ICU or in the general section and to understand treatment protocol.

Mr Randeep said hospitals have been instructed to admit patients even without such a certificate. Notices have been sent to hospitals that fail to comply. The OPD of two private hospitals was sealed for 48 hours when they refused to admit a patient.

Thrissur, Feb 11: The latest test result of the woman medical student, who arrived here from China's Wuhan region and was the first positive case from India for the novel Coronavirus (nCoV), has come out negative, health officials said on Monday.

Her condition was "stable", they said.

According to the state health department as of now, 31 people are in isolation wards across various hospitals in the state.

"The blood test result of the first patient from Thrissur, from the National Institute of Virology (NIV) testing centre at Alappuzha, shows a negative result.

But we need confirmation from the NIV at Pune," a senior medical officer told news agency.

After the first positive case was reported from Thrissur, two other Keralite students from Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus, had tested positive in Alappuzha and Kasaragod districts.

The health department had earlier said those in isolation wards of various hospitals in the state have come down to 34.

"A total of 3,367 are under observation across the state, of which 3,336 are under home quarantine," a release issued by the health department said.

The department has already sent at least 364 samples for testing at the NIV at Pune and so far 337 results have returned negative.

The ''state calamity'' alert, which was declared on February 3, was withdrawn on Friday after no new positive cases of infection were detected.

Karwar, June 29: The additional sessions court, Sirsi town police station and office of the deputy superintendent of police in Uttara Kannada district were sealed on Sunday after an undertrial was found positive for Covid-19.

The undertrial, accused of stealing a bike, from Hubballi was arrested by Sirsi police and had initially tested negative. He was confirmed infected when his samples were tested the second time.

He was arrested by Dharwad police in connection with a bike theft case. During interrogation it was found that he had stolen bikes in Sirsi too. Sirsi police had brought him from Dharwad sub-jail for the interrogation and was produced in the court.

The accused was in Manipal jail for some time after he was convicted there for the bike theft. While bringing him to Sirsi the police had wore PPE kits.

When he was produced in the court the judge had reportedly directed the police test him for covid as he had some symptoms.

His swab was collected and sent to the lab. In the first test the result was negative but it was positive in another test. At that time he was in Sirsi sub-jail. 10 police officials who had come into his contact have been quarantined. The police station has been sealed down and the court will be closed down on Monday and Tuesday.

All the under trails who were kept with him in the sub-jail have been isolated and their swab has been sent for the testing.