The unofficial tally is being compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
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Dell asks employees in one Bengaluru office to work from home as staffer has COVID-19
A team of doctors have been stationed at the apartment where the techie lives for residents in the building.
PTI/ Representational Image
After one techie, with travel history to the United States was tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, the company he works for has advised all his colleagues working on the same floor of the office space to work from home. The techie’s wife and daughter were also tested positive for Coronavirus on Tuesday afternoon along with another person. In an email to its employees, Dell, located along Inner Ring Road near Embassy Golf Links, said that all colleagues of the patient who tested positive have to work from home for 14 days. “We have confirmed that one of our Bangalore team members based in the 4th floor of Dell 4 builing, Annexe Wing, Inner Ring Road Domlur, has been tested positive for COVID-19… Out of the abundance of caution, all team members based on the fourth floor of Dell 4 building, annexe wing will work from home for the next 14 days i.e., until March 24,” the email reads. The company has asked other employees in the building, who are capable of working from home, to do so, in order to avoid more number of people entering the office. The email also says that the offices on the 4th floor and the entire building has been sanitised “This includes wiping down commonly touched surfaces, such as light switches and door handles, with alcohol-based solutions several times a day in addition to deep cleaning common areas, canteens and restrooms,” the email adds. Dell sent out the precautionary email after the techie, who was tested positive, was kept under isolation at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases. His family members including his wife, daughter and driver were placed under home quarantine until they were tested positive. The colleague he had travelled to India with, from Austin, was also placed under home quarantine. The apartment association members of the building in which the techie and his family live held a meeting with the Bengaluru District Health Officer and other officials from the Health Department on Monday and advised home quarantine for all its residents for the next one week. “With principles of self-quarantine and symptomatic assessment being paramount, it has been strictly advised that everyone within the community stay indoors for the next 5 to 7 days unless an absolute emergency,” the email from the apartment association says. On Tuesday, a team of doctors were stationed at the apartment and will be there till the home quarantine ends. “Doctors will be stationed 24x7 for the next 5-7 days as a precautionary measure to identify symptomatic residents and screen them. They will start the first round of door-to-door assessment and post that anyone having symptoms would need to visit the designated screening room in the apartment,” the email adds. The residents were also advised to ensure that their respective domestic helps would also be screened at the designated station within the apartment. Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Monday said that the techie, who returned from the US, had come into secondary contact with 2,666 people since his arrival in India, TNM has earlier reported. The techie visited his work place for two days before he showed symptoms. The Karnataka Health Department has formed three contact-tracing teams to identify all persons who he came into contact with directly and indirectly and ensure that they are screened as well. So far, 16 people, who were in the same flight as the techie, have been placed under home quarantine. In a statement, Dell has detailed its response. The statement has been reproduced in full below. Nothing is more important than the health and safety of our employees and communities where we operate. We can confirm two employees of Dell India were tested for the COVID-19 virus following their return home from the United States – including a visit to our headquarters in Round Rock, Texas. One employee tested negative; another tested positive and has since been placed in quarantine. We continue to take steps to protect Dell Technologies team members and communities by following the health and safety guidelines from the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control, and coordinating with local health officials. The team members in Bangalore who may have come into contact with the affected employees are working remotely. Dell’s local environment, health and safety team is in contact with these team members to closely monitor their well-being. All the team members. who are set up for work from home are encouraged to do so as part of our Connected Workplace policy. This helps us reduce foot traffic and congregation in buildings for those whose jobs require them to be in a Dell facility. To help keep sites worldwide safe, we have increased the frequency of deep cleaning and sanitization of all our workspaces and conference rooms.
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Rahul Gandhi has to take up the reins of the Congress party: Dinesh Gundu Rao
A delegation of BJP leaders on Tuesday met Madhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker N P Prajapati.
Referring to the rebellion in Madhya Pradesh Congress, the party's Karnataka unit chief Dinesh Gundu Rao on Tuesday said it was time for Rahul Gandhi to lead the party from the front and make drastic changes at the top. “Whatever may happen in Madhya Pradesh, one thing is clear. It's time for"@RahulGandhi to lead from the front. Its time for him and the senior leaders to make drastic changes at the top. We cant go on like this anymore, said Rao in a tweet. "@INCIndia (Congress) needs him (Gandhi) and he needs the party," he added. His appeal came amid the Congress suffering a massive setback with its prominent youth leader Jyotiraditya Scindia quitting the party, pushing the Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh into virtual collapse and signalling that he is likely to join hands with the BJP. As of Tuesday, 19 MLAs (member of legislative assembly) of the ruling Congress government in MP, who are known to be loyalists of now expelled Jyotiraditya Scindia, have resigned from their positions. A delegation of BJP leaders on Tuesday met Madhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker N P Prajapati and handed the resignations as the 19 remain holed up in a resort in Bengaluru. After receiving the letters, Prajapati told reporters that he will take decision as per the rules. Senior BJP leader Bhupendra Singh reached Bhopal on Tuesday afternoon by a special flight, carrying with him the resignations, said BJP MLA Vishwas Sarang. So far, 22 Congress legislators have submitted their resignations from the state assembly in the wake of senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia's exit from the party. Three of them are in Bhopal, while others are in Bengaluru, capital of BJP-ruled Karnataka. A delegation which included Leader of Opposition Gopal Bhargava, Bhupendra Singh, Narottam Mishra and Sarang visited Prajapati's residence. Singh read out names of the MLAs whose letters he was submitting in front of Prajapati, claiming that the Congress government had lost its majority. Singh also said that these resignations were in the MLAs' own hand-writing. The number of Congress MLAs resigning could reach 30 very soon, he claimed. "I have received these resignations. I will take action on these letters as per the established rules and regulations of the state assembly," Speaker Prajapati told reporters. Those who resigned included six ministers: Tulsi Silawat (constituency Sanver), Govind Singh Rajput (Surkhi), Dr Prabhuram Choudhry (Sanchi), Imarti Devi (Dabra), Pradyumna Singh Tomar (Gwalior) and Mahendra Singh Sisodia (Bamori). Other MLAs who have resigned include Hardeep Singh Dang (Suvasara), Rajyavardhan Singh (Badnawar), Brajendra Singh Yadav (Mungaoli), Jaspal Jajji (Ashok Nagar), Suresh Dhakad (Pohri), Jaswant Jatav (Karera), Raksha Santram Sironia (Bhander), Munnalal Goyal (Gwalior East), Ranveer Singh Jatav (Gohad), OPS Bhadoria (Mehgaon), Kamlesh Jatav (Ambah), Girraj Dandotiya (Dimni) and Raghuraj Kansana (Morena).
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COVID-19: Karnataka asks IT companies to stop sending employees abroad
A total of four positive cases have been confirmed in Bengaluru, as of Tuesday.
Representative Image
Karnataka state health officials are asking IT companies to refrain from sending their employees to work abroad (“on-site") in view of the coronavirus outbreak. “Thousands of people come in from all over the world to Bengaluru since as we know Bengaluru is an IT hub. We will be telling IT companies to not send their employees on-site till this is resolved,” stated Dr Sudhakar, Medical Education Minister, to TNM following a press meet held earlier today. During the press meet, health officials stated that an advisory had been issued to several IT companies earlier today, asking the companies to provide a list of all the employees who had recently traveled to a country which had been affected with the coronavirus disease, after February 21. In addition, prevention measures and sanitisation protocols have also been increased. As of Tuesday afternoon, there were four positive cases of coronavirus disease confirmed in the state, from Bengaluru. The first individual was a techie in his 40s who recently traveled to India from Austin, Texas, via Dubai. His wife and child who were placed under isolation at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases (RGICD) in the city were confirmed to have tested positive for the virus on Tuesday. Another techie who had also traveled from the US, via London, also tested positive. Officials have begun contact tracing and have identified around 2,666 individuals who had come in contact with the first techie, while 12 individuals who had been in touch with the second man have been contacted. The state government has also set up new testing centres at Mysore Medical College & Research Institute (MMCRI) in Mysuru, Hassan Institute of Medical Sciences (HIMS) in Hassan and Shimoga Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS) in Shivamogga. In Bengaluru, tests are being done by the National Institute of Virology’s field unit and Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI). A total of 56 cases have been confirmed in India as of Tuesday.
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Islamophobic, sexist talk in IISc Bengaluru cancelled after students object
According to the abstract shared on the email with the students, the lecture was about "Polygamy, sexual selection and terrorism".
IISc, Bengaluru
On Monday, the students of the Centre of Ecological Sciences at Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru received an email about a talk that was going to be organised on March 11. Since the departments at IISc organise external lectures and talks on an almost weekly basis, the Islamophobic, condescending and patriarchal nature of the talk went unnoticed by most students initially as they did not go through the email. However, on Tuesday, the abstract of the talk came to notice when some people shared screenshots on Twitter; and it understandably caused a lot of outrage. Thanks to objections online and from the students of the department as well, the talk was cancelled just a day before it was supposed to be held. The talk was to be given by KN Ganeshaiah, an agricultural scientist and a retired professor from the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bengaluru. According to the abstract shared on the email with the students, the lecture was about "Polygamy, sexual selection and terrorism". Without naming any community but not leaving much doubt as to which it was, the talk was apparently about how polygamy by men in some societies causes poorer men these societies to be sexually deprived, making them more prone to take to “terrorist activities”. Here is the abstract as sent to the students: “Theory of sexual selection argues that asymmetry between males and females in their investment in to the offspring results in the promiscuity of males. This instinctive nature of males to be promiscuous, seems to have been socially (and even religiously) granted and packaged in the form of `polygamy’, at least in certain human societies. Unfortunately, in societies where such polygamy is intense, a large set of males from socially and economically lower strata is deprived of mates creating a huge bank of `bare branches’. Besides sexual selection, female foeticide, driven by social preference for males in certain societies, has also resulted in mate-deprived `bare branches’ . Such men are obviously deprived of an important physiological need which in turn could lead to psychological trauma rendering them to be more vulnerable to take up crime, and indulge in violence and militancy. Therefore, these `mate deprived men’ are likely to become an easy prey for the religious fundamental organizations who would be scouting to recruit ground fighters to attain their narrow religious ends. In other words, the `bare branches’ of certain societies are likely to provide the ground force for terrorism. Therefore I argue that, polygamy and female foeticide could be strong contributors to the ground army required for terrorist activities. I illustrate this with a strong spatial and anthropological association between polygamy, female foeticide and terrorism.” The abstract is sexist and misogynistic, Islamophobic, and classist. It speaks of women as mere objects of sexual gratification for men, and claims poor men become terrorists because they are ‘sexually deprived’. The students at IISc approached the internal committee of the department that had scheduled the talk on Tuesday. Soon, it was cancelled. Here’s what some people said about the now cancelled talk online. Jokers of academia, which is choked with hindu oppressor-caste shit ppl, are going to host a highly imaginative talk that is utterly and intensely communal, sexist, casteist, classist, claiming its evolutionary biology. Because “healthy debate”. These sickos should all be in jail pic.twitter.com/OLrNeByzjJ — tea kadai saathukudi juice (@zideresed) March 10, 2020 This is terrible.. Withdraw the talk! @CES_IISc https://t.co/hAaNvK94ye — Krishnapriya Tamma (@priya_tamma) March 10, 2020 This talk being scheduled at all is a disgrace to the department. Please cancel this talk, @CES_IISc. https://t.co/pZAzh8M9s9 — pranav minasandra (@PMinasandra) March 10, 2020 What in Indian incel hell is this crap?? Y’all created a whole culture of arranged marriages since you can’t get laid & still blame women for literally everything. Also your selectively biased & correlative data doesn’t mean shit. Do better @iiscbangalore @CES_IISc https://t.co/Fv67goerb5 — Feminist & done with your shit (@FeministHellcat) March 10, 2020 While this event itself was organised by an internal committee of the Centre of Ecological Sciences, IISc has landed itself in controversy in the past over unscientific events. Last year, the institute saw students protest against an event by spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravishankar called ‘Excellence Through Inner Peace’ being organised under the IISc banner. Earlier in 2017, the alumni association of IISc had planned an astrology workshop which also raised many eyebrows. This too was cancelled after many scientists, some IISc faculty, and other alumni objected to it.
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B’luru civic body targets street food stalls to fight cholera, critics question logic
Starting from Monday, BBMP has been shutting down street stalls serving food as a preventive measure against cholera.
In a controversial move which has attracted criticism, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has been on a drive since Monday shutting down street stalls selling food, citing a spurt in cholera cases in the city. BBMP Commissioner BH Anil Kumar on Tuesday tweeted, “To prevent the spread of cholera & GE (gastroenteritis), BBMP has shut all roadside eateries and unhygienic kitchens. Request citizens to stop consuming roadside food as they are the source of infections.” To prevent the spread of cholera & GE, #BBMP has shut all roadside eateries & unhygienic kitchens. Request citizens to stop consuming roadside food as they are the source of infections.#Bengaluru pic.twitter.com/0v3h7HiHCj — B.H.Anil Kumar,IAS (@BBMPCOMM) March 10, 2020 This preemptive action against the street vendors who often cater to the low-income segments of the city’s populace has triggered criticism. Dr Sylvia Karpagam, a public health specialist said this is just another move against the poor – be it slum dwellers or street vendors. “This move is very unscientific and classist. The idea of cholera being spread by street vendors is just nonsense. Let them see who spreads cholera in other countries. Because it can spread via water, basically any type of faecal-oral transmission,” she said. “Instead of shutting down street food stalls, there is a need to improve health education and sanitation. This is because people with cholera can spread the disease if they don’t maintain standard hygiene,” Dr Sylvia explained, “There is also a need for proper public health standards. Actually I have gone to many posh 5-star hotels for health check-ups, even they have cases of typhoid and diarrhoea. And there is no system of screening or monitoring and they just pay money and get clearances.” She suggested that compared to street vendors, where one can see the food being prepared, it is hard to know about large hotels and restaurants – about how they are storing food and under what conditions and for how long. “So should we shut down all 5-stars too?” she asked. Similarly, Bengaluru-based lawyer-activist Vinay Sreenivasa, who is a member of Bangalore Zilla Beedhi Vyapari Sanghatanegala Okkuta, criticised the city administration for targeting street vendors without any basis. “Do they even know the root causes of cholera? BWSSB (Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board) and BBMP cannot even give proper underground drainage and water all over the city, especially in slums where cholera outbreak happened, and they want to evict street vendors instead?” he asked. He further added that this measure is illegal and immoral. “Vendors are ready to join hands with BBMP to fight for hygiene, but they should not evict them unilaterally. Where are poor vendors to go? Where will our customers go?” he asked. BBMP says it’s playing it safe Defending the BBMP’s actions, Chief Health Officer of the civic body, Dr Vijayendra said action is being taken only against vendors who are found to be keeping food uncovered or not “maintaining hygiene”. “We have sent the samples to the lab and we are awaiting results. As a preventive measure, we have asked them to close down,” he said. When questioned about the livelihoods of the street vendors, he replied, “What is more important right now? Thinking about that we have taken this decision. We have only targeted people who were seen to sell food which was not covered, otherwise, we are not touching them.” Read: Seven cholera cases reported in Bengaluru: Here’s how to keep yourself safe As reported by TNM as of Monday evening, there have been seven cholera cases in Bengaluru (including areas outside BBMP limits) since March 1. BWSSB has denied any contamination in their water supply and said 29 samples collected from the affected areas have shown the water quality to be safe. Read: 80 gastroenteritis cases in Bengaluru in March, water contamination suspected
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Nithyananda's follower alleges cops showed porn to ashram kids, police booked
Nithyananda's follower Girish Turlapati, a member of the ashram-cum-gurukul located in Hirapur village on the outskirts of Ahmedabad filed a petition alleging that the police had shown porn to children at the ashram.
The Ahmedabad police have registered a case under the POCSO ACT against police officials and members of the Child Welfare Committee for allegedly showing porn to children of living in Nithyananda's ashram, a police officer said. Among the 14 people against whom an FIR was registered on March 6 on the order of a special court also included members of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC). The court had ordered registration of the case while hearing a complaint petition filed by Nithyananda's follower Girish Turlapati, a member of the ashram-cum-gurukul located in Hirapur village on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. The FIR was registered at Vivekanandanagar Police Station in Ahmedabad district. This is the same police station where a case of wrongful confinement and abduction of three children was registered against the controversial self-styled godman in November last year. In his petition, Turlapati alleged that police officials including inspector RB Rana of Vivekanandnagar Police Station, and members of the CWC asked offensive questions to the children living at the ashram. The complainant alleged that the children were mental tortured by the investigators. Turlapati also alleged that the children, including girls, were shown morphed pornographic videos and photos by the investigating teams. Turlapati also claimed that the concerned police officials and members of the CWC tried to emotionally blackmailed the children in order to extract favourable statements from them. In its order, the special POCSO court ordered that an FIR be registered registration of an FIR under the POCSO Act, the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and IT Act. The accused have been identified as police inspector Rana, Deputy SP KT Kamariya, DySP Riyaz Sarwaiya, DySP SH Sharda, district child security officer Dilip Mer and members of CWC, including its chairman Bhavesh Patel. "We have lodged an FIR against 14 persons, including police officers, on March 6 following an order by the POCSO court. Till now, we have recorded statement of the complainant and further investigation is on" said Deputy SP, Ahmedabad Rural SC/ST Cell, P D Manvar. Police had booked the controversial godman and two of his women disciples on the charges of wrongful confinement and abduction of two girls and a boy living in his ashram. Earlier this year, Interpol issued a Blue Corner Notice seeking information about Nithyananda who had fled the country amid allegations of wrongful confinement of children.
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