JOIN USOn the final episode of the daily update, we bring you numbers from Karnataka and stories from the rest of the country. And before we go, we share a slice of our lives in bringing you these bulletins.From the team at DH, stay safe.
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Hello. This the daily Covid update from Deccan Herald. I’m Suraksha.
On the bulletin: Karnataka sees a drop in cases since yesterday - 378 cases have been reported today, Udupi tops the list at 121 cases...
The WHO says the growth in India has not reached the exponential stage yet...
And Karnataka revises the SOP for those returning from Maharashtra.
But first, a look at the daily figures...
India has reported over 2 lakh cases of the novel coronavirus since January this year. The country has ovre 1 lakh active carriers of the virus.
According to the data so far, India has been making a steady recovery from Covid-19, but also reporting new infections at a faster rate. On Saturday, India reported its highest ever new cases – 9,887 in a single day – adding more than 9,000 cases for the third consecutive day.
However, according to a top World Health Organisation expert, the coronavirus disease has not "exploded" in India, but the risk of that happening remains as the country moves towards unlocking its nationwide lockdown that was imposed in March to contain COVID-19. Speaking in Geneva, Health Emergencies Programme Executive Director Michael Ryan said the doubling time of the coronavirus cases in India is about three weeks at this stage, which is not exponential yet. He also said that the impact of the pandemic is different in different parts of India and varies between urban and rural settings.
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Over the past few days, reports have surfaced from various individuals in Delhi, claiming that they were unable to seek admission for Covid-19 patients in hospitals, and they were turned away due to a shortage of beds.
Following this, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has warned that his government will come down heavily on the "mafia" indulging in "black marketing of beds".
The Delhi government will be soon deploying medical professionals at all private hospitals to keep a tab on the available beds for Covid-19 patients
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Staying with Delhi, a panel constituted to decide whether to admit patients suffering from Covid-19, from other states to hospitals in Delhi, has submitted its report. And it looks like the Delhi government is leaning towards restricting the services of hospitals run by the Union Territory only for residents of Delhi.. However, hospitals like AIIMS and Safdarjung run by the Central government will be free to accommodate patients from all states.
The panel states its fears that Delhi hospitals will be filled to capacity within days, if services are opened up to non-residents.
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Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu has capped Covid-19 treatment charges in private hospitals. The government has said that private hospitals should not charge any fee over and above the fixed slab for treatment, which is not more than 7,500 rupees a day for those admitted in general wards, and a maximum amount of 15,000 rupees per day for the ICU.
Karnataka has reported 378 new Covid-19 cases today.
Of these, 329 have a travel history to Maharashtra and 8 have international travel history to UAE and turkey. 15 of the cases have had no known contact with covid-19 patients nor any travel history.
All the cases from Udupi, Yadgiri, Kalburgi, Hassan, Dharwad, Uttara Kannada, Tumakuru, Chikkaballapur and Davangere have recently returned from Maharashtra.
The other districts have also reported cases from Maharashtra as well as other states such as Gujarat and Delhi. All the 8 international travellers from UAE and Turkey are from Dakshina Kannada. One patient from Kolar has a history of inter-district travel.
A few are contacts of those in containment zones and a few are primary contacts of previously diagnosed patients.
Two deaths have been recorded in the past 24 hours. A 55-year old woman from a containment zone in Bidar was diagnosed with SARI after she presented with cough, breathlessness and weakness. She passed away yesterday.
An 82-year-old woman from a containment zone in Vijayapura, had passed away on 27th May. Her tests indicate that she was covid-19 positive. She had a history of diabetes, heart disease and hypertension.
With this, Karnataka has recorded over 5213 cases of the novel coronavirus. The state currently has 3184 active cases and has recorded 59 deaths.
As the state has been reporting a large number of cases from among those who have returned from Maharashtra, the government has revised its order regarding quarantine. Those coming in from Maharashtra will now have to spend one week at institutional quarantine followed by two weeks at home, instead of one.
Even the exempted categories of patients who get to go home directly are required to be at home for 21 days as against the previous 14-days quarantine period. While at home, the elderly and those with co-morbidities have to upload their temperature and pulse oximetry taken via the tip of the finger to the Quarantine Watch app daily.
In BBMP and other urban areas, a home quarantine poster is stuck on the door. Information is given to two neighbours and resident welfare /apartment owners' associations to ensure strict enforcement, which is also monitored by a three-member booth level team. A flying squad also filed FIRs against those who violated home quarantine and shifted them to institutional quarantine.
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In addition to this, the government has undertaken an exercise to survey 1.68 crore households in the state. More than 58 lakh households of the 1.36 crore households surveyed come under the risk category. 1.67 lakh households have at least one member suffering from fever, cough or cold, which are Covid-19 symptoms.
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Over the past three months, we’ve been bringing you Covid-19 related information, and now since life is set to resume, and we find the new normal is living with the virus itself, we will be bringing an end to the daily Covid update.
But we continue to bring conversations with experts to help you understand each stage of the pandemic.
For all the news, log on to deccanherald.com. Our extended analysis and coverage continues in the newspaper.
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And before we go, here are a few moments of reporting, recording and producing this bulletin during this pandemic. That's all from us. Stay safe.