Hospitals want $100 billion in the next relief package along with targeted changes to tax laws.
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Friday, March 20, 2020
Thursday, March 19, 2020
Pubs in Karnataka must remain shut: Minister warns of action
Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said that the government had received reports that several pubs were open and violating norms.
Representation photo
The Karnataka government has ordered pubs to shut down in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The Health Department has warned that stringent action would be taken against pubs if they are found violating norms. “We had issued an order that pubs should be shut and we have come to know that they are operating despite the order. We will take stringent action against them and I have requested the Home Minister to take action as well,” Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said. However, the minister did not clarify whether the order applies to all pubs or only independent ones. Appealing to residents to avoid large gatherings especially weddings, the Minister said, “Fairs, conferences, religious events should stop. People should not congregate in numbers over 100 - especially in weddings. We have noticed that people are gathering in large numbers for weddings. But we don't want the infection to spread and we request you to postpone weddings if possible or if not limit guests to 100-150.” The Karnataka Health Department officials will now monitor those persons who are under home quarantine starting March 20 with the help of beat constables. “The Cabinet sub-committee has directed the BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) to ensure that areas surrounding hospitals and areas which draw crowds must be disinfected. The BBMP is training 10,000 personnel to monitor the situation,” he said. All religious leaders have been asked to issue directions to devotees to not congregate in religious shrines. “There is no malicious intent behind this. This is being done in view of public safety. We are requesting you to follow the orders,” he said. Theares, malls, night clubs and independent pubs, schools and political gatherings will be shut till March 31. Restaurants are allowed to be open but they must turn off the air conditioning. College students have been given leave till March 31 as well. The Union government has also banned all arrival of international commercial flights in India starting March 22 for a span of one week. The government has also advised all senior citizens or persons aged 65 years and above to stay at home. Children aged 10 years and below have also been advised to remain at home.
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2 COVID-19 patients recover in Bengaluru, no new cases from Karnataka
P2 and P5 – that is, the wife of the Dell techie who had travelled from the US, and the Google techie who had come from Munich – have recovered.
Representation photo
Karnataka’s Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said on Thursday that two persons who were tested positive for coronavirus in Bengaluru have now recovered. The wife of the Dell techie and the techie from Google, have recovered, he said. They will be discharged on Friday. “We have sent their samples for testing once more. We will discharge them tomorrow (Friday) after the results come,” he said. The minister further said that those who are being discharged must remain in home quarantine for 14 days. “This is good news for the state. It tells the state that by getting the infection does not result in death. There is no need to worry but do maintain cleanliness and take precautions,” he said. The minister added that there were no new cases reported in Karnataka on Thursday. The department had said earlier in the day that one person tested positive in Kodagu. The person had travelled from Saudi Arabia to Kodagu. The district administration has imposed section 144 (3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure in place to avoid the spread of coronavirus in the community. The Kodagu district administration issued an advisory that all persons travelling in the Indigo flight 6E96 from Dubai to Bengaluru on March 15 and also passengers on board the Rajahamsa Bus number KA19 F 3170 from Kengeri Satellite Bus Stop to Madikeri, were to report to a government hospital immediately. The bus left from Bengaluru at 11.30 pm on March 15. There were 33 other people on the bus and the district administration issued the advisory so people would report themselves to hospitals. The district administration issued the advisory as the person, who tested positive in Kodagu, travelled via these two routes. Hotels, lodges, dormitories, and home-stays in the district have been ordered to shut. Tourist spots, which were already closed last week, will continue to remain closed. This is the first COVID-19 positive case in Kodagu. There are 14 cases from Bengaluru and three from Kalaburagi. So far, 1,143 people have undergone tests for COVID-19 in Karnataka, of which 15 have been declared positive and 915 have tested negative. The remaining test results are awaited. Read: India reports fourth COVID-19 death, Punjab man who died tests positive
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Details of flight, bus that Kodagu COVID-19 patient took: Govt issues advisory
Kondangeri village, where the patient hails from, has been identified as a containment zone.
Representational image
The Karnataka government has issued an advisory to passengers who travelled on the Dubai-Bengaluru Indigo Flight 6E96 on March 15 (Sunday) as well as to the passengers on board the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) Rajahamsa bus (No: KA19 F 3170) to Kodagu, to report to the government hospital closest to them. This comes after a traveller on the Dubai-Bengaluru flight, a resident of Kodagu’s Kodangeri village tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday. While the flight had landed at 4:15 pm at the airport, the bus had left the Satellite Bus Stand on Mysore Road at round 11 45 pm in the night. The advisory issued by the Kodagu district administration said that the person testing positive from the district had availed these transport modes. Kodagu Deputy Commissioner Annies Kanmani Joy confirmed the veracity of the notice. This is the first of such kind of advisory issued in Karnataka in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. However it is unclear why the same advisory has not been broadcast by the Health and Family Welfare Department yet. The Kodagu district Collector has also issued prohibitory orders. In light of the outbreak, all tourist lodges, homestays and hotels were asked to be shut down for more than a week as part of the statewide shutdown. Kondangeri village, where the patient hails from, has been identified as a containment zone.. A total of 306 residents of the same village have been asked to remain in home quarantine. As of now, four persons have been kept under isolation at a designated district hospital. The Kodangeri resident is incidentally the 15th COVID-19 positive patient in Karnataka, as declared by Health Minister B Sriramulu earlier on the day. Of the other 14, 11 are from Bengaluru, three are in Kalaburagi including the deceased 76-year-old. Another 197 people are currently under home quarantine in Kodagu district as they returned from foreign countries. As earlier reported, 78 persons in Madikeri taluk, 54 in Virajpet taluk and 55 persons in Somwarpet taluk are under home quarantine.
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Inside the Bengaluru hospitals where doctors and nurses fight COVID-19 every day
Doctors and other medical personnel at the hospital have been on call relentlessly in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases/Bengaluru
Leaving the hospital is no small feat for the staff at Bengaluru’s Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases (RGICD), where a separate building houses those who have tested positive for the coronavirus. For weeks now, staff members leaving this isolation ward at the end of the day must perform a series of detailed cleansing 'rituals' done with the aim to reduce the risk of the transmission of the coronavirus disease. Gloves, suits, masks and other protective equipment must be removed and disposed of in the appropriate manner, adhering to the guidelines of biomedical waste removal. Hand sanitiser is to be used when leaving the isolation ward, and hands must be washed with soap and water, using the proper technique. Those who go home have to undertake another set of precautions to reduce chances of accidentally passing on an illness to a loved one at home. For the individuals continuing on for another shift, a new mask must be worn, and more people must be seen and the same process repeated again. Despite it being almost 6 pm on a recent Tuesday evening, people continue to crowd at the hospital, lining up to consult a doctor. There are two nurses in the emergency department’s examination room, which has been turned into a makeshift screening area for those with suspected symptoms of COVID-19. “I don’t remember the last time that we all worked like this. Usually, in the evenings we don’t get so many patients, maybe a handful, but these days everyone is busy regardless of morning or night shift,” says one of the nurses at the emergency department. Doctors and other medical personnel at the hospital have been on call relentlessly in light of the pandemic. There have been 15 confirmed positive cases of coronavirus disease reported in Karnataka as of Thursday, 11 of which are from Bengaluru. These individuals have been admitted to the isolation ward at the hospital, to which access has been restricted. “It’s not just those with symptoms or relevant history. So many people are now coming here directly after hearing a lot of the news about coronavirus. So there is some triage that is done first,” explains Dr Deepak, a senior consultant pulmonologist at the hospital. Those with relevant history and symptoms are sent to the coronavirus help desk, outside the isolation ward. Doctors at the help desk examine the individuals to determine what step to take next: some are sent for further workup, while others might require admission and observation. Doctors at the hospital have also seen a significant rise in the number of people coming to the hospital out of paranoia. “Many individuals who have no significant travel or contact history and those with mild symptoms such as a runny nose are getting scared and rushing to the hospital because of the current situation,” says Dr Nagaraja, director of RGICD. In fact, the hospital will be starting a separate influenza clinic on Friday which will cater to individuals whose histories and symptoms are more indicative of a seasonal flu. “This way there will be less overcrowding of individuals at the coronavirus help desk which is meant only for those who have relevant travel or contact history,” he adds. A total of 28 doctors will be rotating on shifts to staff the clinic. The situation is similar in other hospitals across the city too. Earlier on Wednesday, the government had notified hospitals in the city to stop all non-essential services and elective procedures, asking for measures to be increased to keep the coronavirus at bay instead. Individuals who are dealing with mild illness or do not require immediate medical attention have been asked to refrain from visiting and crowding up hospitals. “There’s definitely been a lot more work, one person is having to handle hundreds of patients in the clinic and it has been more demanding. It’s also really stressful because we also have to take care to keep ourselves safe,” states Dr Jyoti, a postgraduate from Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI), which is affiliated to Victoria Hospital. The staff at the hospitals have been working long hours, oftentimes unsure of when they will be able to leave. “I don’t think any of us really had an idea of what it would be like to work during a pandemic situation. No one teaches you how to handle an outbreak. A lot of learning is done while working. The clinic timings have been hectic. People come for a check-up at all hours, and we have to be very vigilant with each and every single person. You don’t know who might be positive,” she adds. From taking a history, to examining individuals and collecting samples, doctors and medical staff have to take the utmost precaution and care so as to reduce any chance of accidentally contracting the disease. Over 180,000 cases of COVID-19 have been reported from around the world. Several governments have ordered for a lockdown of cities to reduce the chance of a person to person transmission. Doctors, nurses, and other individuals who are in the line of fire and at a higher risk of being exposed to positive individuals have been advised extreme measures to protect themselves.
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'Not issued any orders to evict residents': BBMP to PG and hostel owners
The health department officials told TNM that they had received complaints that people were being evicted from PGs and hostels in the wake of COVID-19.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike issued a fresh advisory on Thursday asking owners of paying guest accommodations and hostels in Bengaluru to stop asking residents to move out. Officials with the health department say that they had received numerous complaints from students and techies living in hostels and PGs that they were asked to vacate the building in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak. Health Department officials told TNM that several college students and techies living in PGs had called the 104 helpline stating that they had been asked to vacate and return to their respective homes. “There were media reports about this as well. Those living in PGs and Hostels were issued guidelines by the BBMP but the complainants said that the owners asked them to leave due to government orders. We have not issued any such orders,” the official said. The BBMP Special Commissioner Ravi Kumar issued the fresh advisory in the wake of such complaints. “In view of COVID-19, it has been brought to my knowledge that some owners/managers of Paying Guest Houses and Hostels are expelling and forcing the inmates to vacate the premises by misinterpretation of our advisory dated 16th March 2020. Our advisory is for maintaining sanitation, cleanliness and prevention of overcrowding in limited space. We have not mentioned anywhere inmates to vacate the hostels or paying guests,” the advisory reads. On March 16, the BBMP issued an advisory to the hostels and paying guest accomodation owners. Health department officials say that students were advised to go home and were also given the option of staying back. If they chose to stay back, the owners of these establishments were to make the residents aware of personal hygiene measures related to home quarantine. All the guidelines and advisories are available in both Kannada and English on the Karnataka State Health and Family Welfare department website. “We have not asked IT professionals or students to vacate the premises. In fact we are encouraging professionals to work from home and such eviction from PG House Managers and Owners will defeat Work from Home advice,” it adds. Read: Coronavirus: BBMP’s advisory to owners and residents of PG accommodations, hostels
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Set up a testing lab in Kalaburagi as soon as possible: Cong MLA to Health Minister
The MLA from Jewargi in Kalaburagi district said that the lack of a testing facility was causing huge delays in testing people for COVID-19 in the district.
MLA Ajay Singh from Jewargi
After the death of a 76-year-old man in Karnataka's Kalaburagi due to COVID-19, the entire district has been shut down. MLA from the district's Jevargi, Ajay Dharam Singh, has now appealed to Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu to set up a testing lab in the district at the earliest. He also requested the minister to set up checkpoints at the border between Telangana and Kalaburagi and also screen people coming in from neighbouring states. "If you see the pattern of how many people got affected by COVID-19 across the world, it becomes very clear that by the third and fourth week since cases were detected, the numbers increased drastically. Controlling the spread of the virus is important and the biggest concern is testing people. Without a lab in Kalaburagi, the delay in test results is causing people to panic. I request you to set up a lab as soon as possible," MLA Ajay Dharam Singh, son of former Karnataka Chief Minister Dharam Singh said. He claimed that the district administration had expressed several concerns to him regarding the delay in test results of patients who were isolated. "Every time, we have to fly samples to Bengaluru. This is causing major problems for our district. The lab has not been opened yet despite the Health Minister announcing the same," he said. The legislator also called for setting up of checkpoints at the district's borders with Maharashtra and Telangana, stating that the district administration had expressed concerns over people coming in from these two states. "Since there is no testing being done at railway stations and bus stops, there must be checkpoints. Weddings and religious fares are still taking place and no proper action is taking place," he said. Health Minister B Sriramulu, however, said that the testing facility would be set up in Kalaburagi within two or three days and that the Joint Task Force Committee would track complaints of weddings and fares. "So far, 943 people were tested and 768 people tested negative. So far we have screened 1.17 lakh people at airports," he said. Sriramulu also said that the state government currently has access to 800 ventilators and more are being procured as there is a shortage.
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