10 new COVID-19 cases in Karnataka, state tally now at 98

Coronavirus

Two of the new cases came in contact with the pharmaceutical company employee in Mysuru taking the number of cases in the cluster to 12.

TNM Staff

Ten more people were tested positive for coronavirus infection on Tuesday, taking Karnataka’s tally to 98. The Karnataka Health Department said that of the 10 new cases, two are the contacts of patient 52, who worked at the pharmaceutical company in Mysuru.  The two new cases from Mysuru include a 35-year-old man and a 41-year-old man, both of whom had come into contact with patient 52. This takes the total number of cases in the cluster of the pharmaceutical company to 12. None of the patients in the Mysuru cluster had travel history abroad.  Three cases were reported from Hospet in Ballari including a 52-year-old man, a 48-year-old woman and a 26-year-old woman. All three of them had no travel history abroad, but they had visited Bengaluru on March 16. The Ballari district administration has launched a probe into the movements of the three patients to identify how they contracted the infection. The three persons are of the same family. Deputy Commissioner of Ballari, Nakul, said that Hospet has been declared a containment zone and is under complete lockdown. The police also barricaded the road leading up to the family’s residence in Hospet.  The other cases include a 40-year-old man from Bengaluru, who came into contact with patient 59. Patient 59 is the domestic help of patient 25, a 51-year-old man who returned to Bengaluru from London; a 19-year-old man, who has travel history to New York and returned to Bengaluru on March 22; a 40-year-old woman from Gauribidanur in Chikkaballpura; a 34-year-old resident of Dakshina Kannada, who returned to the district from Dubai on March 18; and a 26-year-old man from Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada, who returned to his home town from Dubai on March 20.  Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday said that 24 people from Karnataka had attended the congregation in New Delhi's Hazrat Nizmuddin dargah and of them one person from Bidar was tested positive.  So far, three people have died due to COVID-19 including the 76-year-old man from Kalaburagi, a 70-year-old woman from Andhra Pradesh, who was being treated in Bengaluru, and a 65-year-old man from Sira in Tumakuru, who had attended the congregation at Hazrat Nizamuddin dargah in New Delhi.  Read: Will do How a Jamaat meeting links COVID-19 cases in TN, Telangana and Delhi    

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Video: Karnataka officials turn to drones to fight against COVID-19

Coronavirus

The drones were used as part of the sanitation drive in Bengaluru and to check for areas where people are congregating in Raichur and Uttara Kannada.

Prajwal Bhat

Remote-controlled drones are now becoming a tool to fight the spread of coronavirus in Karnataka. Drones were used to spray disinfectants at major spots in Bengaluru on Monday including the typically high-footfall area of Church Street. The drones were used as part of the sanitation drive in Bengaluru by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).  "BBMP is using drones to spray disinfectants across the city. Today, drones were used at Victoria Hospital, KC General Hospital, Malleswaram and Shivajinagar Bus Station," BBMP Commissioner BH Anil Kumar said. BBMP is using drones to spray disinfectants across the city. Today, drones were used at Victoria Hospital, KC General Hospital, Malleswaram & Shivajinagar @BMTC_BENGALURU Bus Station.#StayAtHomeAndStaySafe #BreakTheChain @CMofKarnataka @DHFWKA @sriramulubjp @mla_sudhakar #BBMP pic.twitter.com/Vcjwgesj5s — B.H.Anil Kumar,IAS (@BBMPCOMM) March 29, 2020 The drones were hired last week to spray disinfectants in the major footfall areas in the city. Similarly, drones were also used in other parts of Karnataka. In Uttara Kannada and Raichur, they were used to identify places where people were congregating despite the lockdown enforced in the country till April 14. A bunch of youngsters in Kotekere in Sirsi, Uttara Kannada were spotted playing outside and told to return to their homes by the police. "Drones are being utilised by the police to identify areas where many people are congregating. This is being done to ensure that the lockdown is enforced and people do not venture outside without reason," Uttara Kannada Deputy Commissioner Harish Kumar told TNM. In Raichur,drones were operated over areas like Siaya-talab, Jalal Nagar, Kalidas Nagar, LBS Nagar, and Harijanwada.   

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3 in family test positive for coronavirus in Ballari, stringent lockdown in place

Coronavirus

This makes Ballari the 12th district in Karnataka where a COVID-19 case has been reported.

TNM Staff

PTI : Image for representation

Three members of a family tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Ballari district of Karnataka on Monday. The source of their infection is unclear.  The cases were confirmed by Ballari Deputy Commissioner SS Nakul and Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Minister B Sriramulu.  "The family will be treated at the district hospital. Extensive disinfection of the affected area will take place. Health workers will do surveys to check if there is anyone who has developed symptoms of COVID-19," SS Nakul told reporters on Monday.  ಇಂದು ಹೊಸಪೇಟೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದೇ ಕುಟುಂಬದ ಮೂವರಿಗೆ #COVID19 ಸೋಂಕು ಖಚಿತವಾಗಿದ್ದು, ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಸೋಂಕಿತರ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆ 91ಕ್ಕೆ ಏರಿದೆ. ಇವರನ್ನು ಈಗಾಗಲೇ ಪ್ರತ್ಯೇಕಿಸಲ್ಪಟ್ಟ ಕೇಂದ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ ದಾಖಲಿಸಲಾಗಿದೆ. #IndiaFightsCorona — B Sriramulu (@sriramulubjp) March 30, 2020 Health officials are also tracing contacts of anyone who might have come in touch with the family. Out of Karnataka’s 30 districts, Ballari is the 12th where a COVID-19 case has been reported.  DC Nakul announced that stringent lockdown measures will be implemented in Hosapete town in the district, where the family resides. "We are treating Hosapete as a containment zone and stringent lockdown measures will be in place," Nakul added.  Police barricaded the road leading to the family's residence in Hosapete after the case was confirmed.  This takes the number of COVID-19 cases in Karnataka up to 91 in the state which includes 3 deaths reported from Chikkaballapura, Tumakuru and Kalaburagi, and six people who were discharged after recovering.  This includes cases from Mysuru and Mangaluru where no foreign travel history or contact history was reported. 

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Judge lifts Texas abortion ban pegged to coronavirus pandemic

Ohio, Iowa, Mississippi, Alabama and Oklahoma are among the other states that recently moved to suspend access.

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Karnataka wants those in home quarantine to send a selfie every hour, starting 7 am

Coronavirus

A press release issued by Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar exempts those in quarantine from sending selfies during sleeping hours from 10 pm to 7 am.

Prajwal Bhat

The Karnataka government has asked all those who are quarantined at home over the COVID-19 outbreak to send a selfie every hour from their home, failing which they may be housed in mass quarantine centres.  A press release, which was signed by Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar, also mentions that this exercise will be repeated, except during sleeping hours from 10 pm to 7 am. “If home quarantine person fails to send selfie every one hour (except sleeping time from 10 PM to 7 AM) then the government will reach such defaulters and they are liable to be shifted them to government created mass quarantine,” (sic) reads the directive. It mentions that the selfie or photo will include location coordinates which informs the government where the sender is.  Every selfie sent by a home-quarantined person is seen by the state government’s photo verification team. So if wrong photos are sent, then also defaulters will be shifted to mass quarantine, adds the directive.  This is in addition to all the other measures taken already against the spread of COVID-19 in the state. People who have returned from a foreign country are stamped on their hands, notices are stuck outside their houses and their details have been uploaded on a list released by the government too. The state government has set up a COVID-19 control room at the office of the Department of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) in Bengaluru. The control room consists of volunteers who fact-check news items and take notes from calls made to the helpline numbers in the state.  In Karnataka, people who have returned from a foreign country and people who may have come in contact with a COVID-19 patient are quarantined at their homes. A bulletin issued by the Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Department on Monday evening stated that there are 23,152 people in the state who have been stamped with the quarantine details.  Volunteer teams visiting the home of people in quarantine will also click their photos and send it to the government. The state government also shared the link to an android application— Quarantine Watch— to be downloaded and used by those in home quarantine in the state.  “We have been given the list of addresses of people who are quarantined. We will be visiting their houses and checking with their neighbours if they have left their homes,” said a volunteer working with the Karnataka government. The volunteers are working with jurisdictional police stations and are helping police track down and keep tabs on people who are quarantined in their homes.  However, the move has faced opposition, with technology policy experts questioning the need for collecting large amounts of data pertaining to people who are quarantined.  “Taking selfies and uploading them every hour is enabling the collection of more information than what is needed. One does know to what extent will this data remain or will be removed in the future,” Apar Gupta,  Executive Director, Internet Freedom Foundation told TNM. He further pointed out that the link to the app's privacy policy led the user to the website of the Revenue Department of Karnataka. Last week, the same department released a list of around 20,000 addresses of people who are currently quarantined at their homes. The state government also released a mobile application which revealed the addresses of COVID-19 patients in the state. The list of addresses were divided by districts and it included over 14,000 addresses from Bengaluru alone.  Read: Karnataka’s app for contact tracing reveals home addresses of COVID-19 patients 88 people in the state have tested positive for COVID-19, including 41 cases in Bengaluru and 12 in Mysuru. In Mysuru, ten people infected are employees of a pharmaceutical company— Jubilant— in Nanjangud and the state government is yet to trace the source of the infection.

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10 from a Mysuru pharma company get COVID-19, source of infection unclear

Coronavirus

The first case in this cluster, that of a 35-year-old man, had no relevant foreign travel or contact history, according to the state government.

Prajwal Bhat

Four more employees of a pharmaceutical company in Mysuru tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday. This means that as many as ten employees of Jubilant, a pharmaceutical company which has a unit in Nanjangud in Mysuru, have now tested positive for COVID-19.  Mysuru Deputy Commissioner Abhiram G Shankar told TNM that health officials are yet to trace the source of the infection. However, Jawaid Akhtar, Principal Secretary (Health), told TNM that they were investigating if any of the packages received from China could have caused the infection. Since India had put stringent clauses on import from China, authorities are unclear if the company received any consignments recently and are investigating the same.  The first case in this cluster, that of a 35-year-old man, was reported on March 26. He had no relevant foreign travel or contact history, the Karnataka government had said. According to officials in the state health department, the man had come in contact with several healthcare professionals.  He worked in the quality assurance section of the company.  On Sunday, five more employees of the same company tested positive for the virus including four residents of Chamundi Pura Extension, Ramaswamy Layout, Govind Raj Layout areas in Nanjangud Town. One other person from Yaraganahalli New Extension in Mysury also tested positive.  The development has led to district authorities treating this as a cluster, and vehicles moving in and out of Nanjangud are being monitored closely. Nanjangud is known for the famous Srikanteshwara Temple. Around 1,000 employees of the pharmaceutical company are quarantined at home.  The movement of essential services are allowed as of now. So far, 88 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Karnataka including 12 people who have tested positive in Mysuru.  Apart from the cases in Mysuru, a 13-year-old boy from Tumakuru also tested positive for the virus on Monday. He is the son of the 65-year-old man who died after he had earlier tested positive for the virus.   

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Life after self-quarantine in Beijing: A Bengalurean writes

Coronavirus

Beijing, a city that used to be full of crowds and fun is very different now.

Shilpashree Jagannathan

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Even as India is on lockdown, Madan*, who recently travelled to Beijing amid the pandemic has completed his mandatory self-quarantine in the Chinese capital. The Bengaluru native who works in Beijing has now returned to work. This is his experience after self-quarantine as told to Shilpashree Jagannathan. After 14 days of self-quarantine, I seem to have become more profound in my thought process. I did have my ups and downs as I had to be ‘caged’ in the house. But it wasn’t all that bad, to be honest. I have a self-assumed shrink role to play with my family to remain sane, as India is under lockdown now.  Life after self-quarantine After the end of my quarantine period, I was allowed to go to the building society’s office and get a ‘pass’ so that I could enter and exit. This pass certifies that I don't have the virus after the 14-day period of isolation. That morning, the first few steps outside felt strange. The outdoor air felt a little abnormal. And to my surprise, I didn't feel as happy to get out as I assumed I would be. I went to the society office and showed my passport and other documents to get my pass. On my return, I went around the building as it felt nice.  The next day, I could go to work. I honestly felt unsafe entering the ‘outside’ world as I was in complete control of my house and used to keep it safe with disinfectants, etc. As I stepped out, I could see that the usual paths and gates in my building had closed down. Only one gate could be used to go in and out. There, they would check everyone's temperature and entry pass as they came in.  Getting to office This diversion made me walk nearly an extra kilometre. The city isn't fully up yet, but my office is. People just go to work and head back home. The city that used to be full of crowds and fun is very different now. The malls are just about 20% full as are the restaurants.  Like all the compounds (the Indian equivalent of a gated community of office complexes) in Beijing, even my office complex is quite large, has many buildings, with just one gate for entry and exit. I have been given a separate pass by my office to show that I work there and I am clear of infection. So essentially, everyday I have to show this office pass at the complex entrance where my temperature is checked once; it is checked again at the entrance of my office building. Besides, every afternoon, the Human Resources department in my office goes around checking everyone's temperature and notes it down. This is all being done even though the local cases have gone to down zero and any new case that comes, is from outside (foreigners and Chinese who are returning home). Beijing  Nowadays, the city has no life after 8- 9 pm. Roads are empty, the eateries are barely open; even if they are, they just have a couple of people. Even during weekends, not many venture out. But people who have been here all through the outbreak say that it is much better than what it was. So I guess it will all get back to normal pretty soon. Most commercial places have heat-sensing devices and registers, they have stopped physically checking people now. I also see people don't really maintain the 3-feet distance once they know that you're not infected. Going by this trend, it almost seems like the world would start getting back to normal two months from now. And to be fully normal would probably take another five months. This virus has impacted the world in many ways that people never imagined it would. But it is only going to help to be hopeful and stay healthy and stop obsessing over COVID-19 the whole day as it's a rabbit hole once you go down that path. Read: Bengaluru to Beijing: A detailed account of an Indian in self-quarantine in China For those in lockdown, here are a few tips that might help: ● This is a time that many of us always wanted. Agreed that it was not planned and there is uncertainty to it, but look at the bright side. You have this time and you decide how you want to spend it. ● Have a daily routine, even though it'll be much more relaxed than the regular work day. Workout in the morning, if you are working from home, then work sitting in one place that's 'your desk'. Since there is no house help, divide the chores equitably among everyone in the house, including children. If you are alone, dedicate time for chores. I have a new-found passion for wiping surfaces until I can see a clear reflection. It is satisfying. ● Learn something new, since the whole world is under lockdown many people and companies are giving away free videos, be it home workouts or online learning etc. You just have to look for it and do it. ● If you have family staying with you, give them the space they need. Do your own thing too. ● Spend quality time with family, if you're staying with them. For instance, spend evenings working out together or play a board game. Make sure it is all routined. ● Video call people whom you miss. It will make you feel better. ● Look forward to a day when this will get over. Have a plan of what you would do, once the world gets back to normal. ● On weekends, treat it as a weekend. As soon as you wake up play a game that you always wanted to play, binge watch that Netflix TV show that has been on your list for long. ● Be positive and stay strong. This will pass.

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