JOIN USNew, old hotspots pour cold water on efforts to tame coronavirus
The state witnessed new challenges in its battle against COVID-19 on Sunday, with Belagavi going past the century mark and the first cases being reported from Shivamogga.
In Belagavi district alone, 22 people with travel history to Ajmer in Rajasthan, tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday.
The biggest single-day spike in cases took the district’s tally past 100-mark.
All 22 are part of a 38-member group from various parts of Belagavi and Bagalkot districts that had visited Ajmer Sharif dargah in Rajasthanrecently.
The infected, including five children in the age group of three to 14 years, are from Raibag, Chikkodi, Nippani and Belagavi taluks. Apart from 22 from Belagavi district, eight members of the group from Bagalkot also tested positive for the virus.
Some timely action by the police made sure the Ajmer returnees were stopped at the check-post and quarantined at Morarji Desai Residential School near Nippani. The situation would have spun out of control if the Ajmer pilgrims were allowed to return to their homes.
Deputy Commissioner S B Bommanahalli told reporters, “A 38-member group from Belagavi and Bagalkot districts had been to Ajmer dargah. They were stranded there after the lockdown was clamped. They, however, managed to get a pass from the Ajmer district administration and left to their homes in a private bus. The police at Nippani check-post stopped the bus and sent them to a quarantine facility on May 2. Throat swab samples of all 38 were sent to COVID-19 lab on May 7. The infected have been admitted to BRIMS, Belagavi.”
New cases
Shivamogga, which was in the green zone since the lockdown was enforced, recorded eight cases, district in-charge minister K S Eshwarappa said.
Eshwarappa told reporters in Shivamogga that lab test reports had confirmed that the eight people were suffering from COVID-19.
He said of the nine people who came from Ahmedabad in Gujarat, eight are infected by the virus. They are undergoing treatment at McGann hospital in the city. Of the eight, seven are from Shikaripura and one is from Thirthahalli.
Seven cases in Bhatkal
Seven more cases were reported from Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada district, taking the total number of active cases in Bhatkal, a COVID-19 hotspot, to 28.
Two of the new cases are women. The tally also includes two teenaged boys, aged 15 and 16 respectively.
All of them are secondary contacts of patient number 659, an 18-year-old woman, whose infection was confirmed on
May 5.
The number of cases in Uttara Kannada district has now gone up to 39 and of them, 11 have recovered. Bhatkal has reported 27 cases in the last three days alone. All the infected are undergoing treatment at the Karwar medical college hospital.
Kalaburagi cases
The Covid-19 infection has been confirmed in four more persons in Kalaburagi district.
A 35-year-old man, a resident of Afzalpur who is suffering from a severe acute respiratory problem, a 30-year-old youth from Kamalapur, a 72-year-old man in Movinapur area, who is a contact of patient number 604, and a 35-year-old resident of Kalaburagi have all tested
positive.