Karnataka waives exams for class 7, 8: Class 9 must pass internal assessments

Coronavirus

The government is yet to decide the time table for the class 10 exams.

Theja Ram

Representational image

The Karnataka government on Thursday cancelled exams for students in classes 7 and 8. Earlier in March, the state government had waived exams for students from Classes 1 to 6. The new order was rolled out in the wake of the 21-day lockdown for stopping the spread of COVID-19.  Speaking to the media, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Suresh Kumar said that the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) on Wednesday waived exams for classes 7 and 8. Following this, the state government too had decided to waive exams for state board students in these two classes. "Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we have decided that all students in Classes 7 and 8 will be promoted without writing exams. Those in Class 9 will be evaluated based on summative and formative assessments. If any student fails this internal assessment, the respective schools must use the holiday period to bring remedial measures to ensure the students are eligible to be promoted," he added.  Minister Suresh Kumar further stated that schools must encourage online tests for the Class 9 students who do not pass the internal assessments. He also said that the state government would decide the time table for Class 10 exams on April 14. He also said that the decision regarding Pre University College (PUC) exams would also be taken on the same day.  Earlier, a circular had been issued stating that all schools and colleges would be shut till May 20. However, the Minister for Primary Education issued a clarification that the circular was fake and wrong. "The issue of colleges comes under the Higher Education Department. Schools and Colleges are anyway shut during this period due to summer vacation. We issued a clarification that it is fake and incorrect," an Education Department official said. 

Body 2: 

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/2UEBJ6p
via IFTTT

Massive fire at Bengaluru’s Bamboo Bazaar, 25 shops destroyed

Accident

Fortunately, there have been no reports of any injury or fatality.

Soumya Chatterjee

A massive fire broke out in the wee hours of Thursday in central Bengaluru’s Bamboo Bazaar area, within Bhartinagar Police Station limits, and as many as 25 shops have been destroyed. Out of the 25, 13 of them were fully gutted. Fortunately, there have been no reports of any injury or fatality. As of Thursday afternoon, the fire is still partially on, with firemen trying to douse it completely. 17 fire tenders were deployed on the ground after the first vehicle left for the spot at 3:25 am, a fire control room official said. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. A senior fire department official said that the cause of the fire will be probed by the police. “The Fire Department will determine the origin of the fire within closed spaces but since this is a fire in an open area, the police will probe. We will submit our report to the police after the fire is completely extinguished,” the fire official said. Speaking to reporters on this, Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao, who also visited the spot said, “Many shops, some of which are around 50 years old, have been damaged. We don’t know yet what is the cause of the fire. But this had led to the loss of a massive amount of property. But fortunately, there is no harm to human life. There are a lot of items made of ply and valuable teak that have been gutted. Also, one electronics showroom has been damaged with washing machines, refrigerators and air conditioners getting burnt. The total loss of property is yet to be estimated,” Bhaskar Rao said.  Jurisdictional Bhartinagar Police ensured that people did not gather at the spot of the fire and made sure that there was no crowd since the state of Karnataka is under lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic. According to the latest update, Karnataka has seen 110 positive cases while the national tally has crossed 2,000.

Body 2: 

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/341RjMa
via IFTTT

IISc Bengaluru developing ventilator to save coronavirus patients

coronavirus

"A team of scientists and engineers are building a prototype of an electro-mechanical ventilator using local components," the institute said.

IANS

Twitter / @iiscbangalore

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is racing against time to develop a home-grown ventilator to save lives of COVID-19 (coronavirus) patients across the country, a statement said on Wednesday. "A team of scientists and engineers are building a prototype of an electro-mechanical ventilator using local components," said the over-century-old institute in the statement. Even as hundreds of patients grapple with the Covid-19 pandemic across the country and hospitals set to face shortage of the life-saving instrument, the team has designed the prototype based on guidelines of the British medicine and healthcare products regulatory agency. "As local manufacturers are unbale to source key components like sensors and flow controllers from overseas due to disruption in global supply chain, we are using only local parts made in India," said the institute's principal research scientist T.V. Prabhakar. The project is undertaken by the department of electronic systems engineering at the institute. "We are assembling the ventilator for use free of cost. The prototype will be ready for trials in the next couple of weeks. We hope by this month-end, manufacturers can make them and scalp up soon," said associate professor and project coordinator Gaurab Banerjee. Though about 40,000 ventilators are available across the country, they will be required in thousands if the virus cases spike rapidly. "Patients with severe Covid infection have damaged lungs that gasp for oxygen. When they are put on a ventilator, the machine enables lung function, feeding them with air and oxygen to fight the virus," said Prabhakar. A well-designed ventilator will have sensors and actuators that allow doctors to set the volume and pressure of gas delivered to the patient precisely, which depends on the severity of their illness. To store and mix air and oxygen, for instance, some component makers reused sedimentation tanks found in household RO water purifiers. "Our mixing process has parallels to those in gas turbines and industrial burners, where the ratio of fuel and oxidizer is carefully controlled," Aerospace engineering department's assistant professor Pratisha Panda said. To check pressure levels, sensors similar to those are used to detect air pressure in car tyres. "Controlling the pressure at which gas is pumped into the patient's lungs is crucial, akin to how using an industrial pressurised hose to water plants instead of a garden hose can cause severe damage," the faculty members warned the doctors. The team is also developing a flow rate sensor, which shows how much air is flowing into a patient's lungs. "By using concepts of fluid and gas dynamics, we are able to estimate and control pressure, volume and oxygen concentration of the air delivered to the patient," said team member Duvvuri Subrahamanyam. The team is taking inputs from doctors to simplify the interface and build a dashboard preloaded with approved settings. The dashboard will allow it to operate in an emergency by technicians or nurses. "They will have to press a button that says pneumonia or Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) and all the settings will come up by default within a certain range," said Banerjee. "We are working with manufacturers to check components required for including them in the final design," said team member Manish Arora. State-run organisations like Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) have expressed interest in supporting mass production. "The institute's centre for nano science and engineering has provided the team with local oxygen and pressure sensors," Arora added.

Body 2: 

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/39AWrIj
via IFTTT

The mysterious Mysuru cluster: 16 people with COVID-19, but no sign of a source yet

Coronavirus

So far, in Karnataka, this is the biggest known cluster of COVID-19 cases and the Mysuru district administration is yet to pinpoint the source of the infection.

Prajwal Bhat

Four more people tested positive for coronavirus in Mysuru district of Karnataka on Wednesday taking the tally of people affected by one pharmaceutical employee to 16.  So far, in Karnataka, this is the biggest known cluster of COVID-19 cases and the Mysuru district administration is yet to pinpoint the source of the infection. None of the patients have any foreign travel history or had any contact with any other patient. Mysuru Deputy Commissioner Abhiram G Shankar told TNM that health authorities in the district are examining three different ways the virus could have infected the first case (patient 52), a 35-year-old man who works in the quality assurance section of Jubilant Life Sciences, a company based in Nanjangud in the district.  He tested positive on March 26 and since then, 16 people who came in contact with him have tested positive including his wife and colleagues. Patient 52 did not have any known foreign travel or contact history.  “We are cross checking if the information given by patient 52 about his movements is true. We are checking the visitor log of the pharmaceutical company for foreign nationals who had visited.We are also checking consignments the company had received from abroad,” Mysuru DC Abhiram G Shankar told TNM. The samples of the consignments were sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune for testing, Jawaid Akhtar, Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Department. Confirmed. The company had imported a gel from China, officiais stated.  Stringent lockdown measures were imposed in Nanjangud when the first set of cases were reported. All activity in the town has been suspended with only one entry and exit point open for the movement of essential goods and emergency services.  Around 1,400 employees of the pharmaceutical company are also currently quarantined in their homes.  A 3 km buffer zone has been created in Nanjangud town and Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers are going door-to-door to collect information about anyone reporting symptoms.  Health authorities are waiting for information from the National Institute of Virology in Pune about the parcels sent for testing. They are also searching for who they believe could be patient zero i.e a person with foreign travel history who infected patient 52.  A total of 110 cases of coronavirus were reported in Karnataka as of Wednesday night. Apart from the cluster in Mysuru, smaller clusters of cases were reported in Uttara Kannada and Chikkaballapura districts of the state.     

Body 2: 

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/2UYopsc
via IFTTT

Fauci gets security detail after receiving threats

HHS Secretary Alex Azar had grown concerned about the growing online attacks against Fauci — whose profile soared since he started regularly flanking Trump at White House coronavirus briefings.

from Health Care https://ift.tt/2ysXLjN
via IFTTT

FEMA braces for a multi-front war as hurricane season looms

“Covid is the equivalent of Hurricane Katrina hitting 50 states,” said one former FEMA official.

from Politics https://ift.tt/2R3Tj1r

Trump hints at using federal programs to provide coverage after Obamacare decision

The president and vice president offered vague assurances after Democrats ripped Trump's refusal to reopen Obamacare enrollment.

from Health Care https://ift.tt/2UyYOHm
via IFTTT