Karnataka Covid lockdown news live: Black fungus cases rise to 1,370

Dakshina Kannada reported seven more Covid-19 fatalities and added 651 fresh cases on Monday. While the district has 9,133 active cases, the toll increased to 913. While Mangaluru, Belthangady and Sullia taluks reported two deaths each, one death was recorded in Bantwal taluk. The district declared five containment zones, including one in Belthangady, two each in Bantwal and Mangaluru taluks. With this, the district has 105 active containment zones. The district also reported three Mucormycosis cases.

As many as 13 members from a family, including a three-year-old child, in Bangady village of Indabettu gram panchayat in Belthangady taluk, have recovered from Covid-19. The family celebrated by cutting a cake at home. Much before the lockdown, the joint family had organised a religious programme with limited people. A relative from Mumbai was the first to be tested positive for Covid-19. All other members were in home isolation, except for a 60-year-old person who was shifted to a private hospital in Mangaluru. The family also took extreme care to ensure the virus does not spread to their neighbours.

Thousands of people continued to return home without getting the Covid-19 vaccine at public health centres (PHC) across the district on Monday. Most of the PHCs witnessed the arrival of at least ten times more beneficiaries than the actual availability of vaccines. PHCs saw long queues even before sunrise and many people expressed anger over the mess while returning without getting tokens. Meanwhile, political leaders too held flash protests condemning the government’s apathy.

The district administration is not leaving any stone unturned to check the virus spread in rural parts of Dharwad district. As there is shortage of doctors in villages, which are witnessing an increase in caseload, the administration has now roped in the services of doctors from KIMS and SDM to treat Covid patients admitted to Covid Care Centres (CCCs). They will also pay door-to-door visits to check the health of villagers. On Monday, the team of doctors was deputed to serve in village as part of ‘Vaidyara Nade Halli Kade’, an initiative of KIMS.

The Karnataka government has decided to buy vaccines directly from manufacturers, deputy chief minister CN Ashwath Narayan said on Monday. Recently, technical reasons prompted it to reject bids of two firms that offered to supply doses. Narayan, who heads the state Covid task force, said that the process of communication with manufacturers had already begun. He inaugurated a vaccination programme for artistes of the Kannada film industry. Around 15,000 artistes aged above 18 will be inoculated, he said.

South Western Railway (SWR) on Monday decided to continue selling platform tickets for Rs 50 instead of Rs 10 till June-end. It had increased the rate at KSR Bengaluru City, Bengaluru Cantonment, Yeshwantpur and Krishnarajapuram railway stations to prevent overcrowding and spread of Covid-19.

A research team from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has made a crucial breakthrough by visualising different conformations or forms of the S-protein of the SARS-CoV2 — the virus causing Covid-19 — which exists in mainly two conformations: open and closed. According to IISc, researchers detected multiple distinct intermediate conformations between fully open and closed forms. Moreover, they show that distinct states of both conformations have different binding affinities towards neutralising antibodies. “The structural insights gained from this study could aid in developing therapeutics,” IISc added.The work led by Somnath Dutta, assistant professor at the Molecular Biophysics Unit of IISc, has been published in Structure, a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

A day after Mysuru MP Pratap Simha sought a probe into the Mysuru district administration move to close 16 Covid Care Centres, the JD(S) on Monday sought a probe into alleged underreporting of Covid cases in Mysuru district. Releasing some documents pertaining to burial grounds and crematoriums, JD(S) MLA SR Mahesh accused deputy commissioner Rohini Sindhuri of fudging data to underreport Covid deaths in the district. TOI could not independently verify the authenticity of these documents.

Savaari Car Rentals said on Monday that cabs booked for a trip to a hospital or a vaccination centre would be made available at customers’ doorstep within 90 minutes. It is also offering a 15 per cent discount on these bookings and has introduced Covid-19 insurance package for driver partners and customers. “Savaari has helped more than 25,000 people with emergency travel in major metros,” the company said.

In anticipation of a third wave, the government is set to ramp up health infrastructure in Bengaluru Rural district by setting up a 100-bed makeshift hospital in Doddaballapur within a month. Speaking to reporters after a ground-breaking ceremony, revenue minister R Ashoka said the hospital will be established in the next 15 days at a cost of Rs 4 crore and most of the infrastructure is ready for installation. This will the first such hospital in the country set up in such a short span. It is being built with help from the American Indian Foundation, following assistance from UNDP, Ashoka said.

Nurses have urged the state government to vaccinate their family members on priority, saying the latter were at risk. They made the request during a videoconference with chief minister BS Yediyurappa, who had called the meeting to boost their morale. Healthcare personnel and other Covid warriors were jabbed in the first phase of the vaccination earlier this year. But their kin were not given urgent status. “Since we are at the frontlines of the Covid battle, our family members face the risk of being infected by the virus. The government should therefore give priority and vaccinate all family members of nurses across the state,” Vaheeda of Wenlock Hospital, Mangaluru, said during the session.

A bunch of Bengalureans are doing what many would not dare even in their wildest dreams. They have volunteered to enter Covid wards in Bengaluru hospitals to converse with and serve patients who are isolated from their family and the rest of the world. Read more

With many private schools reopening for the new academic year this week, complaints over the timings of online classes have resurfaced. Timetables, which some private schools sent to parents, show 4-5 hours of online class even for lower grades. This is against government guidelines issued last year. “I was shocked to see the timetable for my son who is in grade 4. Classes start from 8am and end at 3.40pm with a PE class. There are nine periods with 10 minutes break. The lunch break is 20 minutes. This is extremely worrisome,” said a parent.

The spike in mucormycosis cases across the state has set alarm bells ringing: Specialists say they are seeing more such infections in the age group of 35 to 45 years. Read more

Doctors treating Covid-19 patients have come across several instances of mildly symptomatic people taking steroids and even remdesivir while in home isolation and warn this could impair their health severely. “Drugs like remdesivir are advised only for those with moderate to severe symptoms and must be given only under medical supervision,” said Dr Himal Dev DJ, head of ICU care at Apollo Hospitals, Seshadripuram. He was speaking at a webinar on ‘Dangers of Self Medication’, organized by Press Information Bureau, Karnataka, on Monday.

The lockdown should be eased only after the test positivity rate (TPR) falls below 5 per cent and daily infections slide below 5,000, the Covid-19 technical advisory committee has told the state government. It suggests that strict restrictions should continue for two more weeks after June 7, the last day of the current lockdown, unless the case fatality rate (CFR) becomes less than 1 per cent. Read more