Karnataka reports 4th COVID-19 death: 75-year-old Bagalkote man succumbs

Coronavirus

Officials said that the man had no travel history abroad.

TNM Staff

A 75-year-old man from Karnataka’s Bagalkote, who had tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, died later that night. According to Bagalkote Deputy Commissioner K Rajendra, the man had no history of travel abroad. However, his son and daughter, who are residents of Bengaluru, had traveled to Bagalkote 10 days ago. His death brings the total number of cases of death due to COVID-19 in the state to four. He was the first man to test positive in Bagalkote.  “At around 8 pm, the man passed away. Seven of his family members and three others have been quarantined. The son and daughter tested negative. The last rites were performed early hours of Saturday. The last rites had to be performed as per protocol. We finished all formalities by 3.30 am,” DC Rajendra told TNM.  The district administration is now trying to track down the man’s movement. DC Rajendra said that the man owned a kirana shop in Bagalkote and had not traveled out of the district. “The process of contact tracing has begun. We will give more details about his movements later,” he added.  The first case of death in Karnataka due to coronavirus was in Kalaburagi district, where a 76-year-old man died on March 10. Two days later, on March 12, his test results returned positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection. The state Health Department said that the man had died due to underlying comorbidities.  The second case was a woman from Andhra Pradesh, who had come to Bengaluru for treatment. She subsequently passed away on March 27. She was confirmed positive for COVID-19 a day after she passed away. The third case was also reported on March 27. The 65-year-old man from Tumakuru, who died, was confirmed to have COVID-19 after his death. He was treated in the outpatient department, as he had no history abroad. The patient reportedly travelled from Delhi to Bengaluru on a train, and then travelled to Tumakuru by bus. This was the first reported case in Tumakuru.  So far, 128 people have tested positive and four deaths have been reported in the state.  As on Saturday, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare reported 62 deaths in the country. 2322 people have tested positive for SARS-Cov-2 in India and of them 162 have recovered.  Read: Third COVID-19 death in Karnataka, man with no foreign travel history dies According to the state health department, as of Friday 4,587 samples have been sent for testing out of which 4,281 have returned negative.  

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Seven arrested for allegedly assaulting, harassing health workers in Bengaluru, Mangaluru

Coronavirus

While five people were arrested for allegedly manhandling health workers conducting the COVID-19 survey at a layout near Hegde Nagar here, two were arrested in Mangaluru for threatening a health worker over phone.

PTI

Representation photo

Seven people have been arrested in two different incidents for allegedly manhandling health workers conducting a coronavirus survey at a layout near Bangaluru and threatening one of them over phone at Mangaluru, police said. While five people were arrested for allegedly manhandling health workers conducting the COVID-19 survey at a layout near Hegde Nagar here, two were arrested in Mangaluru for threatening a health worker over phone after she called up to enquire about the health of people from the Gulf who came here on vacation, police said. Referring to the incident in Bengaluru, police said an FIR was registered against the attackers on a complaint by health inspector Muniraju and they were arrested late on Thursday night The Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers along with health officials, were conducting a door-to-door survey in Sadiq Layout as part of an exercise to identify if any of those who returned to the state after attending the Tabligh-e-Jamaat congregation in Delhi had COVID-19 symptoms. Bengaluru police commissioner Bhaskar Rao warned miscreants attacking health workers. "Instances of health workers being assaulted and also creating obstruction have been noted. A very stringent warning is issued that anyone who does or supports such acts, non bailable criminal cases will be registered against them and they will be sent to Jail. Doctors n Medical team have our full protection," Rao tweeted. A woman ASHA worker had alleged that announcement was made from the mosque after which people came out of their homes, abused and attacked them and snatched their bags, kits and mobile phones. In Mangaluru, the woman health worker rang up a man on his mobile phone on Wednesday to enquire about the health of people from the Gulf who came there on vacation as part of a routine COVID-19 enquiry, police said. The same evening, she got a call from two relatives of the man who hurled abuses at her and also reportedly issued death threat to her Based on the complaint from the ASHA worker, the two were arrested on Thursday night, police said. The incidents prompted the Karnataka government to issue a stern warning on Thursday to the offenders, saying strong action would be taken against them.  

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Watch: 'Disinfection tunnel' in Mysuru for customers exiting grocery market

Coronavirus

The tunnel is fitted at the entrance of Mysuru exhibition ground market.

TNM Staff

After a 'disinfection tunnel' was set up in Tirupur district of Tamil Nadu, a similar tunnel was set up in Mysuru in Karnataka at the entrance of the Mysuru exhibition ground market.  Farmers selling their produce and customers visiting to buy groceries can walk through the tunnel to get 'disinfected'. The tunnel was installed by the Mysuru City Corporation.  "We are spraying 1% Sodium Hypochlorite Solution (NaOCl) through the nozzles fitted in the tunnel in a water base at 0.5 ppm as a fine mist. Farmers and members of the public can walk through this tunnel to get disinfected. We are planning to install this in seven markets in Mysuru," Mysuru City Corporation Dr Nagaraj said. The water-based solution is, however, harmful to the eyes.   The tunnel is being used by customers and sellers at the Mysuru exhibition ground market. Those walking through are advised to raise their hands while entering the tunnel. Similar tunnels will come up at seven other markets in the city, including Lalitha Mahal grounds and Bannimantap. The tunnels are similar to the 'disinfection tunnel' built by the Tirupur district administration for visitors at the Thennampalayam Uzhavar Sandhai. Venkatesh, who runs a water treatment company, built the tunnel inspired by videos of similar tunnels in Turkey. Read: A tunnel that disinfects as you walk along it, now at Tiruppur farmers’ market The biggest cluster of coronavirus cases in Karnataka is from Mysuru with 21 cases reported in the district. Among this, a group of cases are connected to Jubilant Life Sciences, a pharmaceutical company in Nanjangud. Around 1,400 employees of the company are in quarantine and stringent lockdown measures are in place in Nanjangud town. 

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Rabbits dead, cats and dogs starved in Bengaluru pet shops that shut for lockdown

Crime

It's not only the lockdown, the animals were housed in small cages with no ventilation in the rooms.

Theja Ram

Pictures by State Animal Welfare Board

The Karnataka State Animal Welfare Board’s member Shivanand was shocked at the sight of dead animals, dogs and cats that were starved for days, and animals cooped up in 10 ft X 10 ft shops without any ventilation. His team saw dead rabbits and birds in two of the shops they inspected, while in a few others they found animals that were starved for days.  The horrific sight of these animals in misery, with no strength to bark or cry out for help were witnessed by Shivanand, who says that 13 pet shops in south and east Bengaluru that were inspected on April 1 and 2 and were found to have neglected the animals. “None of them had a license issued by the animal welfare board as per the rules. The BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike officials were clueless about the fact that such animal cruelty was happening right under their noses,” Shivanand said.  Hundreds of animals -- mainly dogs, cats, rabbits and birds were rescued and sent to shelters run by NGOs in the city.  “The shop owners had not fed the animals since the last three days. They said that the police were not allowing them to open due to the lockdown. It's not only the lockdown that has affected the animals but the fact that they were housed in small cages with no ventilation in the rooms they were housed in,” he said.  He states that the shops located in Shivajinagar, Jayanagar, Infantry Road, Kammanahalli and Banaswadi were small and had only one entrance and no windows for ventilation. Since the shutters were rolled down, there was no proper air or light. “Without ventilation, food and water, the animals were suffering inside,” he added.  He says that the animal welfare board has urged the Karnataka Animal Husbandry Department to allow pet shops, which are not flouting norms, to be open for a few hours every day so the animals could be fed properly. “Only those pet shops with proper ventilation and space for the animals will be allowed to open. We will shut down others flouting norms. We are coordinating with the police as well to bust the racket where these animals are being sold illegally,” he said.  A senior member of the State Animal Welfare Board (SAWB) said that the BBMP had issued licenses to these pet shops under the Shops and Establishments Act but had failed to follow up and monitor these shops to see if they were flouting guidelines of the Animal Welfare Board of India. “How can these shops run without a pet shop license that is mandatory? None of the BBMP officials knew how many pet shops there are in their specific zones,” he added.  According to BBMP Director of Animal Husbandry Department Dr Shashi, more inspections are currently being carried out across the state in coordination with the SAWB. “Some of these pet shops have been illegally transporting animals through private buses that cross state borders. The SAWB and BBMP are going to rope in the police to bust the illegal import and export of animals. Some birds were being sold for Rs 60,000. They were operating without a license as well,” he added.          

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Four new COVID19 cases in Karnataka, three of them had attended Jamaat meeting

Coronvirus

This brings the total number of COVID-19 cases in Karnataka to 128.

TNM Staff

PTI image

The Karnataka state government reported four more cases on Friday, out of which three are in Belagavi district in North Karnataka, who attended the Tablighi Jamaat meeting in Delhi’s Nizamuddin. These three include a 70-year old man, a 26-year-old man and a 20-year-old man, who had attended the congregation between March 13 and March 18. The fourth person who was tested positive on Friday is from Bagalkote district. This case is a 75-year-old man with no apparent travel history. The state health department said that a detailed investigation into his movements is underway. The Karnataka government also announced that Rs 150 crore has been allocated as funds for construction workers in the state. The Construction Workers Board has issued an order to disburse emergency funds to the 15 lakh construction workers in the state. Each worker will get Rs 1,000. The bulletin put out by the government on Friday said that Karnataka has collected a total of 4,587 samples testing so far out of which 4,281 have come back negative. The bulletin said that they had collected 344 samples on Friday, and 321 had come back negative, while four had come back positive. So far, 128 people have been tested positive in Karnataka and three people have died due to COVID-19. Eleven people have been discharged after recovery. These include the Dell techie, his wife and daughter; the MindTree techie; the Google techie; the daughter of the 76-year-old Kalaburagi man who died; a techie from Bengaluru, who returned from  Dallas; a 20-year-old student who returned from UK and is the daughter of a government doctor; one of the doctors who treated the 76-year-old Kalaburagi man; a 63-year-old woman, who returned to Bengaluru from Dubai via Goa; and a 56-year-old Bengaluru resident who returned from the USA. The Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa held a series of meetings on Friday, one with the coronavirus task force, one with his ministers, on the coronavirus pandemic. The Karnataka government has also asked that the health department staff that was scheduled to retire on March 31 extend their service for 3 more months, up to June 2020.

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