Archives for 2020

Karnataka government has asked the IT and biotechnology companies to give a list of employees who travelled to COVID-19 affected countries after February 21.

BENGALURU: The Karnataka Health Department has traced a trail of 2,678 people who came in contact with the four positive coronavirus (COVID-19) people in the state, an official said on Tuesday.

“Four positive coronavirus cases identified in Bengaluru have left a trail of 2,678 people who came in contact with them,” the department’s Information, Education and Communication (IEC) special officer Suresh Shastri told IANS.

The four positive cases – a family of three and another man – have been quarantined.

A 46-year-old male with travel history to US via Dubai is the first positive coronavirus case in Karnataka, followed by a 47-year-old female, a contact of the first case and a 13-year-old girl, also a contact of the first case.

According to sources, the three are a family and the Health Department does not have the travel history of the woman and the girl.

Though the Health Department has traced 2,666 people who came in touch with the family, until now only two of the contacts of case one have displayed the virus symptoms, the woman and the girl.

The fourth positive case is a 50-year-old male with travel history to USA via London. The Health Department traced 12 people who came in touch with him but none of them have displayed coronavirus symptoms yet.

All the four positive coronavirus cases being monitored at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases in the city are Indian citizens.

As of Tuesday, the number of persons admitted to the institute for selected isolated observation are six, followed by one each at hospitals in Hassan, Dakshina Kannada and Bagalkote.

“As of Monday, 446 samples of symptomatic persons have been sent for testing, of which 389 have returned negative,” said a statement issued by the Health Department said.

As many as 760 people are going through home quarantine across the state while 1,048 people have enrolled for observation.

Across the state, 95,151 passengers have been thermal-screened for the virus till now at the Kempegowda International Airport in the city and the Mangaluru International Airport.

Another 5,368 passengers were also checked for the virus at Karwar and Mangaluru seaports.

Aimed at reinforcing coronavirus prevention measures, the state government added three more Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) laboratories to receive and test coronavirus samples.

A medical college each in Mysuru, Hassan and Shivamogga are also testing the samples.

The state government also sent a bulk text message to all ASHA workers to create awareness about coronavirus among the masses and communities.

Karnataka government also asked the IT and biotechnology companies to give a list of employees who travelled to COVID-19 affected countries after February 21.

Masks, gloves, caps, hand-wash sanitisers and aprons have been stocked in sufficient quantity.

BENGALURU: Following a directive from the Railway Board to all zones, asking for quarantine wards to be put in place for treating patients with incidence of COVID-19, the South Western Railway Zone has decided to earmark 216 beds for the treatment of patients in Hubballi, Bengaluru and Mysuru Railway Divisions. This is an emergency precautionary measure being taken by the zonal officials.

According to an official release, seven locations — three of them under Bengaluru Division — have been identified to be converted as quarantine wards. These are the wards created: Multi Discipline Training Centre at Ashokapuram in Mysuru, Diesel Training Centre at Hubballi, Women Barrakcs of Railway Protection Force in Hubballi, Supervisors Training Centre in Bengaluru, Divisional PWay Training Centre near Bengaluru Cantonment and Indian Railway Institute for Disaster Management, Hejjala, at Ramanagara.

“The facility can be used for general public and in case of necessity, the state government can also use them,” the release said.These beds have been selected out of the 706 across 229 rooms in its training facilities. The remaining beds can be made use of in case of any emergency by rescheduling training programmes.  

As a precautionary measure, separate clinics have also been formed for patients having cough and fever, at Central Hospital in Hubballi, Railway Hospital in Mysuru and Railway Hospital in Bengaluru, it said. Medical help is also being extended at railway stations, to passengers who aren’t feeling well. Railways has also suspended biometric attendance for all its employees. Masks, gloves, caps, hand-wash sanitisers and aprons have been stocked in sufficient quantity.

Elaborating the steps being taken by the SWR zone, the release said the COVID-19 campaign for health education and awareness programme commenced three days ago by distributing handouts and educative materials with the aim of spreading awareness among passengers.

Video clips issued by Health department are being shown on CCTV for the benefit of the public. Educative messages on prevention of the virus are issued via social media by SWR using #cautionyespanickno.

Health department sources confirmed that the wife and daughter of the techie, who returned from USA to Bangalore on March 1, are the other two confirmed cases along with him.

Four patients tested positive for coronavirus in Bengaluru, tweeted Health Minister B Sriramulu on Tuesday morning. One of these cases is the techie who returned from USA to Bengaluru on March 1 and has been admitted in the isolation unit of Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases.

Health department sources confirmed that the wife and daughter of the techie are the other two confirmed cases. The fourth case is another techie who returned from US and landed in Bengaluru International Airport.

“The family members of the patients are being kept in isolation and their health is being monitored. I urge citizens to take precautions and cooperate in preventing the spread of infection,” Sriramulu said in the tweet.

In a press release, the Indian Council for Medical Research said that in the past 24 hours, there has been one positive case from Kerala, two from Pune and three from Bengaluru. The state health department officials and RGICD doctors are either not responding to calls or are refusing to comment on the matter until 6 pm on Tuesday.

Meanwhile the man, who was under coronavirus quarantine at a district hospital in Mangaluru following his arrival from Dubai, and later left the premises, has been re-admitted to the facility after health department officials convinced him of the Centre’s instructions.

After a day of high drama, the passenger, who arrived at the International Airport here on Sunday night with a high fever, was admitted to the isolation ward of Wenlock hospital but left after arguing with the staff that he would take treatment at a private facility.

However, he was later traced to his home on Monday night after health department officials informed the police. After the district administration’s intervention, he agreed to co-operate with the treatment.
Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh said that the patient’s samples have been collected and sent to a testing centre in Bengaluru.

She said that if passengers were not willing to be screened, they would be counselled first and then shifted to an isolation ward. “If they refuse to cooperate, they would have to be taken forcefully,” she said.

Swachh Device, a first of its kind workshop exclusively designed for the Journalist, News Editors and working professionals in the media industry was held on 7 March 2020 at the Chancery Pavilion.

Cyber-surveil lance is a bigger threat than ever. New forms of censorship are emerging, implemented by troll armies paid by authoritarian regimes. They include double switch, in which a journalist’s online account is taken over in order to disseminate fake news, smear the journalist, and censor
independently reported news and information. Journalists should protect themselves and their sources by keeping up-to-date on the latest digital security news and threats such as hacking, phishing, and
surveillance. Journalists should think about the information they are responsible for and what could happen if it falls into the wrong hands, and take measures to defend their accounts, devices,
communications, and online activity.

Swachh Device conference will offer a valuable platform to transfer knowledge from experts and educate the attendees on the techniques, skills and principles necessary to secure their devices.

Era3Q— the organizing team acknowledged their sincere thanks and appreciation to Shri Sanjay Sahay, IPS – Additional Director General of Police, Police Computer Wing, Govt. of Karnataka and Dr. Ananth Prabhu G for their valuable contribution and support for the conference.