JAIPUR: In view of the growing coronavirus cases, a lockdown has been imposed in Rajasthan from April 19 to May 3rd with some exemptions. However, the Ashok Gehlot government has named it ‘jan anushasan  pakhwada’ (Public Discipline Fortnight). During this time, all government offices except the essential services will be closed. Markets, workplaces and cinemas will also remain shut. The construction sector is allowed to carry on in order to stop the migration of labourers.

The Chief Minister soon carried out an open review and decided to put a lockdown late in the night. “The government will take strict steps to curb the Corona surge in the state. The way the infections are rising along with the death rate is alarming. People need to follow the guidelines of the government and the instructions of the medical professionals strongly”, said Gehlot in a press release.

In smaller cities where the infection is less, the weekend curfew can be reduced to two to three days.

The pandemic situation in the state of Rajasthan is turning grim. As the number of cases continue to surge, the state recorded 10,514  new positive cases on Sunday including 42 deaths. Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur and Kota have emerged as the major hotspots of Corona infection. The total number of Corona deaths in the state has now risen to 3151 while the number of active cases has gone beyond 67000. 

BENGALURU: Chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Friday morning called for an emergency meeting on the COVID19 situation in Karnataka following which a set of new restrictions and orders were decided upon.

“Cases are increasing by the day and we reviewed the situation in the meeting. Night curfew will continue but no other decision has been made. Depending on what Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggests and what action other States are taking, we will decide on the next course of action. A meeting will be held on April 20, when night curfew ends, to decide on its extension and expansion,” BS Yediyurappa said.

Minister for Health Dr K Sudhakar, however, said that a few new decisions, including seeking additional oxygen cylinders from Central government, restricting number of people at gatherings and reservation of hospital beds for COVID19 patients, were taken at the meeting.

Indoor events cannot have more than 100 people while gathering for outdoor events has been capped at 200 persons only instead of the earlier 500 limit. Corporate hospitals have been asked to tie up with at least 10 hotels nearby to convert them as makeshift isolation and treatment centres for patients with mild and moderate symptoms. Only those with severe and serious symptoms to be admitted to hospitalised

“About 95% of COVID19 patients do not need hospitalisation. It is my humble appeal to patients with mild and moderate symptoms to get treated, if you have to, in these makeshift hospitals at hotels. The same doctors who treat at hospitals will supervise you there as well. Some 3000 beds will be arranged in these hotel-turned-hospitals,” said Dr Sudhakar, Health and Medical Education minister.

About 50 per cent of beds in private hospitals have to be reserved for COVID19 patients referred from the government. 1000 beds in government medical colleges and 5000 in private medical colleges will be reserved for COVID19 patients.

One IPS officer, one IAS officer, officials from BWSSB, BESCOM and Suvarna Karnataka trust will be appointed as Nodal officials to supervise admissions in each big hospital. “The officials will ensure smooth admission and treatment process at all times for patients. They will take shifts and one of them will be at the hospital at any given point in time,” Sudhakar added.

Hearse vehicles and crematorium services will be extended at no cost for families of COVID19 victims.

Adding that there is no shortage of Remdesivir in the State, the minister said tender has been called for another 80,000 vials for procurement. The State will also submit a request to the union government for the supply of 5000 oxygen cylinders.

An agreement for jumbo cylinders will be made with commercial oxygen suppliers too to ensure there is no shortage. Direct recruitment on a contract basis for the next six months will be ensured to hire Doctors, nurses and paramedical staff. Hand stamping for patients in home isolation will be restarted apart from increasing testing and tracing processes. “We appeal to people to practise janata curfew voluntarily and help us bring down the number of cases,” Sudhakar said.

BENGALURU: The state on Friday recorded 14,859 new COVID-19 cases, with 78 deaths and 4031 discharges in the last 24 hours. The total positive cases are now at 1,124,509 and toll at 13,190. The state has reached one million discharges so far with the total recoveries reaching 10,03,985.

Karnataka is on the fourth spot in the country in terms of active cases, after Maharashtra which has 6,38,034 active cases, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 1,50,676 active cases, Chattisgarh at 1,21,769 active cases and Karnataka with 107315 active cases.

Bengaluru urban continues to be on the limelight recording the highest number of covid cases amongst the districts. The city recorded 9917 new positive cases and the total positive are now 5,22,438 with 57 covid deaths.

Bengaluru urban now has 79,616 active cases, is one of the many cities in the country which have high active cases.

In Maharashtra, Pune has the highest active cases 1,16,665, followed by Mumbai with 84,738, Thane at 84,038 and Nagpur at 71,539.

The positivity rate of the day for the state shot up to 11.11%, however, the case fatality rate of the day was low at 0.52%.

Pramesh Jain

The Whitefield division police of KR Puram police on Thursday arrested two persons from Rajasthan who created a fake FB account in the name of a girl and trapped a 26-year-old MBA graduate to record his private videos and blackmailed him.

The accused have been identified as Robin Bharath,22 and his associate Jaed Rahman,25 both residents of Rasulpura of Bharatpur in Rajasthan.

Senior officer told media persons,a IAS aspirant ended his life in his house.As he was Unable to fulfill their demands,the victim ended his life on March 23.

As soon as the incident was reported senior officer with others as dog squad with finger print experts rushed to the spot after inspecting the spot the DCP Whitefield D Devaraj who collected information from the sister of deceased that his brother was blackmailed by some Neha Sharma on the Facebook and lured him as he was unable to fulfill their demands he ended his life.

Based on the complaint,special team were formed and pressed into action to track down the accused the team with the help of cyber experts and with the help of local police the team tracked both the accused.

A special team headed by Ranjith PSI from KR Puram and 2 staff were sent to Rajasthan as with the technical inputs our team tracked them to Rajasthan with the help of additional force of 25 Police personnel as 4 PSIs with 22 staff of Bhartpur police station helped our team in tracking the duo in their home town.

In a joint operation the team visited the place where they were hiding a police team rounded up the area as precautionary measures.

The police team secured both of them from their house and after producing to local court on transit remand brought them to Bengaluru for further questioning.

During the course of investigation the accused confessed the crime and revealed that to make easy money the accused opened a fake Facebook account posing as Neha Sharma and sent a friend request to victim who accepted the request and befriended them.

After a couple of chats using the app which changes the voice,the accused lured him and showed a recorded private video forcing him to disrobe and engage in private conversations.

As soon as the victim complied the accused recorded the video and started blackmailing him.

Victim borrowed money from his friends to pay Rs 36,600 transfer to the accused account online in return for the video which they had and blackmailed .

However the accused refused to give and demanded more money and threatened to send the video to his family and friends,unable to pay victim ended his life at his house .

The KR Puram police have taken the accused into their custody to probe their criminal background.

Finally Bengaluru Police Commissioner,Kamal Pant has appreciated Addl CP East,S Murugan DCP Whitefield,D Devaraj,ACP Manoj Kumar,PI, Ambrish M,PSI, Ranjith S,with crime staff as,Arif Pasha,Yaseen Karbudi,Nandish,Vinod,with all the additional force of Bharatpur police station of Rajasthan police with their tremendous efforts and meticulous investigation by the team the duo was arrested from their hometown to lead a lavish life they were indulged in this honey trapping business are now cooling their heels in jail and a suitable reward will be given to the team for their excellent investigation he added.

MUMBAI/BHOPAL: With a large number of Covid patients in the state requiring oxygen support, Maharashtra is looking at the possibility of demand for medical oxygen exceeding supply by the end of this month. 

At present the production is 1,200 metric tonne (MT) per day while it is estimated that the demand by the end of April could go up to 2,000 MT. In a letter to the PM, Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has sought the Centre’s permission to airlift medical oxygen from other states.

At present, the state is diverting its entire production for medical purposes, temporarily cutting off supply to industries. “In many places, private hospitals are declining to admit new patients due to non-availability of oxygen,” said an official.

Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh is also grappling with the shortage of medical oxygen. It is learnt that several hospitals in Indore, Bhopal, Sagar, Khargone and Jabalpur districts are unable to provide oxygen support.
At present, the state is getting local supply of around 267 MT but the daily requirement has touched 400 MT. On Thursday evening, it  said the Centre assured of providing 450 MT.