3 Jamaat attendees from Belagavi test positive for coronavirus; Karnataka tally rises to 128

Four persons from Karnataka, including three from Belagavi who attended Jamaat event at Nizamuddin in Delhi, tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday. The day also saw the swab sample of a 75-year-old man from Bagalkot town return positive for novel coronavirus.

Addressing reporters here on Friday, S Suresh Kumar, Minister for Primary and Secondary Education and government's spokesperson on COVID-19, said, "Karnataka is in the ninth position in the country with respect to COVID-19 cases. Samples of 288 people, who attended Tablighi Jamaat event from Karnataka, have been collected, so far. Of which, the samples of 187 have turned out to be negative while 13 have returned positive. The results of 88 samples are awaited. A total of 134 people are housed in Bengaluru's Haj Bhavan," Kumar said.

The minister said, "The CM Relief Fund received Rs 62,89,40,000 in donations on Friday alone. While PES University donated Rs 3 crore, former minister MTB Nagaraj donated Rs 1 crore, Agricultural Produce Market Committee donated Rs 23 crore, Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited donated Rs 25 crore, JSS Mahavidyapeetha, Mysuru, donated Rs 50 lakh and an Udupi organisation gave Rs. 1 crore. Till date Rs 87 crore has been donated to the CM Relief Fund."

He added, Rs 150 crore from Construction Workers' Welfare Fund has been disbursed to construction workers registered with the Construction Welfare Board in the state. "So far, the workers used to get Rs. 1,000. Now they will get an additional Rs 1,000, making it Rs 2,000 each," Kumar said.

Jawaid Akhtar, Additional Chief Secretary, Health, said, Karnataka had received 1.39 lakh personal protective equipment (PPE). Of which, 53,000 PPEs are in warehouses. "Order for one lakh PPEs have been placed already. Order for additional two lakh PPEs will be placed shortly."

Services of medical, para-medical, clinical and non-clinical staff, who will retire in April and May, will be extended for the next three months till 30th June, he added.