Karnataka Bengaluru Coronavirus July 8 Highlights: CM holds emergency meeting to assess Covid-19 management

Kannada TV actor Susheel Gowda, best known for his role in serial Anthapura, has died by suicide in Mandya, Karnataka.

Duniya Vijay, who shares screen space with Susheel in upcoming film Salaga, mourned the demise of the actor. He took to Facebook and wrote, “When I first saw him, I thought he is a hero material. Even before the movie got released, he has left us. Whatever may be the problem, suicide is not the answer."

“Susheel Gowda took his own life in his house located in Induvalu, in Mandya. His mortal remains have been handed over to the family after post-mortem. An investigation is now underway,” K Parashuram, Mandya Superintendent of Police confirmed to Indianexpress.com

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Massive reverse migration is happening in Bengaluru, since the pandemic broke out in the ciry, Karnataka’s Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah said.

Criticising the BJP-led government, the former Chief Minister added, “This shows that people have lost confidence on the govt with respect to containing the pandemic in the city. The mismanagement has also cost their jobs and livelihood.”

The Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB) has increased the remuneration of evaluators who are taking part in SSLC evaluation work.

The Board has issued an order increasing remuneration by 5 percent. For the first language, it has been revised from Rs 18 per paper to Rs 22. For second/third language it has been revised from Rs 16.38 to Rs 20 and for other subjects, it is revised from Rs 17.43 to Rs 20. Even the remuneration of officials work at all levels during evaluation has been revised.

SSLC exams which ended on July 3 were conducted by KSEEB amid the COVID-19 pandemic. As many as 7,61,506 students appeared for the exams against 7,76,251 registered. The overall attendance was 98.06 per cent against 98.75 per cent of the previous year.

As online classes are underway in schools since the 2020-21 academic year began amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) urged the Karnataka government to home-deliver textbooks to students to help them learn better.

"The Karnataka Text Book Society has introduced the system of making the textbooks available in PDF format. However, it has not reduced the burden of students and teachers, as they still wait for the traditional printed textbook copies. Many of them are not comfortable using the soft copies of textbooks uploaded by The Karnataka Text Book Society," Basavaraj Mudigoudar, Head of Policy and Research Wing, AAP Karnataka said.

The Karnataka government Monday revoked the licenses of 110 pharmacies for failing to maintain a record of those buying medicines for Influenza-like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI).

Earlier, the state government had ordered all chemists, druggists, and pharmacists across hospitals to note down the contact details of those purchasing medicines for the “treatment of symptoms like fever (antipyretics and anti-inflammatory), cold (anti-allergic) and cough (anti-tussive)”.

According to a notice from the Department of Health and Family Welfare Services, the action has been taken under provisions of the Karnataka Epidemic Disease (Covid-19) Regulation 2020.

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A day after the Union Health Ministry recommended the Karnataka government to prioritise saving lives and to step up testing, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa held an emergency meeting with ministers and top government officials in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Chief Minister Ashwathnarayan C N, Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar, Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar, and BBMP Commissioner B H Anil Kumar among others.

With Covid-19 cases and fatalities in Karnataka on the rise, doctors in Bengaluru say the state government needs to restructure its strategy to fight the pandemic, with enhanced contact-tracing, more oxygen beds, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) facilities and ventilators the need of the hour.

“While asymptomatic cases may not need beds and can be treated at home, most symptomatic cases need facilities like adequate oxygen supply, ICU, and ventilators for effective treatment,” Dr Suriraju V, Managing Director (MD) of Regal Hospital in Chokkanahalli, said.

Dr. Taha Mateen, MD of HBS Hospital in Shivajinagar, said the per capita ventilator number in government hospitals remains “shamefully low.”

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Water level at Krishna Raja Sagara(KRS) dam in Srirangapatna taluk, Mandya district, crosses 100 feet on Wednesday morning.

According to Cauvery Neeravari Nigama, there has been good inflow into the reservoir due to heavy rain in Kodagu district for the past two days. If the rain continues to pound Kodagu, it is expected to reach the maximum level by the end of July, said Nigam authorities.

Last year, the water level crossed the 100-ft on August 9. In 2018, it reached the mark on June 17.

A Central team which visited Bengaluru on Tuesday to assess the response by the Karnataka government to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic has advised the state to scale up testing in order to bring the spread of the virus under control.

The two-member team, comprising Additional Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) Arti Ahuja and Emergency Medical Relief Director P Raveendran, met Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, senior ministers and officials involved in the Covid-19 battle to assess the state’s response, especially amid a surge in cases in Bengaluru.

“They discussed a lot of issues on how to tackle the spread of the virus. One thing they said is that the more you test, the better you can control the spread of the disease,” said Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar, who was part of the meeting.

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Karnataka's Kodagu district now has 36 active containment zones, Deputy Commissioner Annies Kanmani Joy confirmed on Wednesday.

While 14 of these are in Madikeri taluk, 13 are in Virajpet, and 9 others in in Somwarpet.

Here's the full list:

Madikeri Taluk

1. Kotemariamma Temple Road
2. Dairy Farm
3. Putani Nagar
4. Near Thalathmane
5. Kolagadalu
6. Kaggodlu
7. Subash Nagar (Murnad)
8. Chamundeshwari Nagar (Madikeri)
9. Hebbettageri
10. Hospital Quarters (Madikeri)
11. Mahadevpet (Madikeri)
12. Bhagavathi Nagar (Madikeri)
13. Karike
14. Ellukocchi (Karike)

Somwarpet Taluk

1. Mullur
2. Balagunda (Karkalli)
3. Hulase
4. Ratha Beedhi (Kushalnagar)
5. Bettadakaadu (Nellihudikeii)
6. Annegowda Badavane (Kushalnagar)
7. Gundurao Badavane (Shanivarsanthe)
8. Dhandinapete (Kushalnagar)
9. Basavanahalli

Virajpet Taluk

1. Bittangala
2. Polibetta
3. Hundi
4. Meenpet (Virajpet)
5. Holamala (Chennayanakote)
6. KEB Road (Gonikoppa)
7. Thithimathi
8. Shanthinagar (Virajpet)
9. Harishchandrapura (Gonikoppa)
10. Netaji Layout (Gonikoppa)
11. Health Quarters (Thithimathi)
12. Srimangala
13. Perumbadi (Arji)

With the threat of the coronavirus looming large, tourist hotspots in Karnataka such as Kodagu (Coorg), Chikkamagaluru, and Hassan have asked all homestays, hotels, and resorts to not take any new guests and shut their businesses till further notice.

Karnataka Tourism Minister C T Ravi had appealed to people, especially those traveling from Bengaluru, to not flock districts like Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru and adjoining hilly areas.

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Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada district, which has reported 1,351 cases cumulatively, also recorded the highest positivity rate among all 30 districts in the state, an analysis by the state Covid-19 War Room indicated.

As per the analysis, almost nine out of 100 tests done in Dakshina Kannada has turned out to be positive, with the positivity rate at 8.6 per cent (as on July 6). While the same in Udupi and Bellary is 7.6 per cent and 7.4 per cent respectively, Bengaluru Urban has a positivity rate of 7 per cent.

However, the average positivity rate in Karnataka is 3.8 per cent.

As the number of fresh Covid-19 cases and fatalities linked to the pandemic surge in Bengaluru, the capital city alone reported 800 new cases while the same was 1498 in Karnataka on Tuesday.

At the same time, at least 19 wards in the city recorded over 10 cases each on Sunday, BBMP statistics revealed.

According to BBMP’s Covid-19 War Room data, Shantala Nagar topped the list with 21 cases, followed by Chamarajpet (19), Jayanagar (15), Hoysala Nagar and Pattabhiram Nagar wards (14 each) among others.

After an increase in Covid 19 cases, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) commissioner B H Anil Kumar has restricted public entry into the BBMP head office from July 9 to 24.

Anil Kumar has asked the people to utilise BBMP online platforms to lodge their complaints. He said the BBMP has kept a drop box at the entry gate to the civic body's head office, enabling people to drop their grievances.

On Tuesday, Bengaluru Mayor M Goutham Kumar and few other officers of BBMP went into self-quarantine after a personal assistant to the Mayor tested positive for COVID-19.

The BBMP PRO office in the head office was also sealed by the authorities on Tuesday.

Bengaluru based IT giant, Infosys has brought back over 200 Infosys employees and their families stranded in the US in a special chartered flight.

“Infosys chartered flight took off from SFO (San Francisco) last night bringing hundreds of employees and families home to Bangalore,” Infosys Associate Vice President – Retail, CPG and Logistics Samir Gosavi said in a LinkedIn post on Monday.

“The company booked the first-ever chartered flight exclusively for 200+ employees and families from US to India. At the time of writing, the flight had landed safely in Bangalore, bringing an end to weeks of dilemma related to the uncertain situation,” he said.

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