COVID-19 Daily Update - May 9

Karnataka reports 41 new cases today, the government permits garment factories to resume work at reduced strength and across India, states continue to spar over travel arrangements for migrant workers.

The daily update with Akhil Kadidal and Suraksha Pinnu.

Full Text:

This the daily COVID-19 update from Deccan Herald.
On the bulletin today:
Karnataka reports 41 new cases of COVID-19 today, states continue to spar over trains for migrant workers and registered garment factories in the state are set to resume work. But first, a look at the daily figures.
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A quick look at the numbers that have come in from across the country till now...As we go into this recording..More than 41,000 people are active carriers of the virus.
Nearly 19,000 patients have recovered since they were first tested and...The country has registered 2,087 COVID-related deaths so far.
15 districts in India currently contribute to 64% of the cases. Out of these, Delhi, Pune, Mumbai, Ahmedabad & Chennai account for approximately 50% of the total cases.
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More than 15 lakh samples have been tested since the first case was recorded in India in January this year.

A quick look at how the states did today. Maharashtra reported 1165 new cases today - the highest single day spike so far.
Gujarat reported 395 new cases and has more than 5000 active cases. Delhi is in the third spot with over 4000 active cases.
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As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, Union Health Minister Harshvardhan has said that India is prepared for the worst scenario and that a situation similar to the western nations might not be found here.
In addition to this, the health Ministry has changed its discharge guidelines for COVID-19 patients.
According to the new guidelines...patients with mild, pre-symptomatic and moderate illness do not need to be tested before discharge. Only those with severe illness or those who have a compromised immunity will have to undergo diagnostic tests before they are allowed to leave the hospital. For more on this, log on to our website at deccanherald.com.
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Karnataka has reported 41 new cases today. Till date, 794 cases have been reported in the state, out of which 377 are still active. 6 patients are in ICU and 386 have been discharged so far.

Out of the 41 new cases reported today, 6 from different districts have a travel history to Ahmedabad.
12 new cases have been reported from Bengaluru Urban.
8 are from Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada
6 are from Davangere
Tumakuru has reported 4 cases, while one is connected to the containment zone in Padarayanapura, the other 3 have a travel history to Ahmedabad.
Bidar has reported 3 cases of which contact tracing is underway for one patient.
Bantwal in Dakshina Kannada has reported 3 cases.
3 cases from Chitradurga have a travel history to Ahmedabad. 1 case has come in from Vijayapura and contact tracing is underway for 1 reported case from Chikkaballapura. Except for the ones with a travel history and for whom contact tracing is underway, the rest are contacts of previously diagnosed patients.
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A roundup of Bengaluru’s two clusters and containment zones...Hongassandra cluster in Bengaluru now has 38 cases of whom six have been discharged. These are all migrant labourers and their contacts.
The source of the infection of Patient 419, the index patient, remains unknown. He has infected 34 others.

In another case in the cluster, the source of infection for three patients of a family in Mangammanapalya, including a truck driver, his wife and son is unknown.
The Padarayanapura cluster has 45 patients. So far the authorities have identified only three index patients for all these patients.

24 cases in Padarayanapura are contacts of three patients with a travel history to New Delhi. From these three cases — P167, P158 and P181 — it spread to 24 others. 169 are primary contacts, 313 are secondary contacts and among the randomly tested 185, five have returned positive.
Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar has instructed the officials to test all senior citizens residing in the red zone. Padarayanapura has about 7,500 houses and a population of over 40,000.
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In national news,
In Delhi, a mis-match between the COVID-19 numbers reported in the daily medical bulletin compared to those reported by hospitals, has led to many questioning the data released by the Delhi government.
The Health Bulletin had reported 68 deaths on Saturday, whereas hospitals reported at least 124 deaths.
Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, run by the central government, said it has reported 52 cases of death to the Delhi government but only 26 are reflected in the latest health bulletin.
Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital under Delhi government has reported 55 deaths but the official toll has just five from the hospital.
Hospital officials in RML and LNJP said they had highlighted the mis-match several times to the government but there has been no response.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain has defended the government and rubbished claims of fudging data. Another spokesperson said that each death reported by hospitals has to be vetted by a death audit committee comprising senior doctors and only after that it is reflected in the health bulletin, which might result in the death reflecting in the bulletin several days after it has occurred.
However some hospitals say that the real picture on the number of cases is also not reflected accurately..
The Delhi government abruptly stopped providing details on testing on April 28th. However, it later restarted providing details after a week but only cumulative figures are now given. The health bulletins these days do not reflect the results of samples pending.
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The Dean at Lokmanya Tilak Hospital in Mumbai has been transferred; this comes days after the video in which COVID-19 patients were found sharing the same space with dead bodies went viral.
The Maharashtra government has also transferred the Commissioner of the Brihan-mumbai Municipal Corporation.
The video had led to shock and anger,with the opposition BJP targeting the ruling party.
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The issue of migrant workers from Bihar returning home has snowballed into a controversy within Bihar, as the ruling JD(U) has refused to pick up the fare for the travel.
The Delhi government subsequently paid the fare for 1,200 travelers on their way to Muzaffarpur. According to the guidelines, 85% of the expense is borne by the Railways and the remaining 15% by the receiving state.
In Bihar, RJD the opposition party has grabbed at the opportunity to hit out at Nitish Kumar, and has offered to pay the Delhi government. Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in Bihar later this year.
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The issue of migrant workers returning home has also added fuel to the ongoing confrontation between the Centre and West Bengal. In the latest instance, Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused the Mamta Bannerjee government of not doing enough to bring back the workers. Union Minister, calling the accusations - a lie and said trains have already reached from Kerala and Rajasthan and an official list mentions Bengal-bound trains from Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana.
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In news from Karnataka
The COVID-19 task force has deferred making a decision on a new containment plan in which only individual houses or buildings will be sealed-off instead of an entire locality or area. The idea was deferred as it was seen as “too radical” for now, and it is likely to be revisited after a week. The idea was floated as the Centre has allowed home isolation and treatment of mild COVID-19 cases.
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Medical staff at Vani Vilas hospital walked out to register their protest, after one patient who had come in for her delivery, tested positive.
While the hospital has so far been receiving cases suspected of COVID-19, the patient who turned positive was the first for the hospital.
The patient had arrived at a late stage in her pregnancy, and though a swab test had been conducted, her results were awaited. By the time the results arrived, some staff from the hospital had spent over four hours with her, and a large number of primary and secondary contacts had been generated.
There are currently 12 suspected COVID-19 cases at the hospital, five of them postnatal. The hospital has not been using Personal Protective Equipment for suspected cases so far.
Staging a protest, some staff demanded that a special team be set up at the hospital to handle incoming cases.
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Moving on, Karnataka has permitted garment factories located in red zones, but outside containment zones, to resume operations at 1/3rd strength. This is applicable to those factories which are registered with the Apparel Export Promotion Council and have an importer-exporter code.
Earlier garment factors were given permission to operate only for the purpose of stitching PPE kits. It is estimated that over three lakh people are employed in the garments sector.
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The government has also clarified that migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and others can hire and use buses provided by the state transport wing to travel from Karnataka to other states with relevant permissions BUT on a “payment basis”.
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An update on the repatriation flight from Dubai to Mangalore - the flight scheduled for May 14 has been rescheduled and will now arrive earlier than planned on May 12.
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And before we go,
A few days ago, an order was issued to schools in the state not to increase tuition fee for the 2020-21 academic year considering the financial crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite this, some schools have issued notices to parents increasing the fee.
Following such complaints, the state department of public instructions has set up a helpline where parents can register their complaints.
The parents/public have been asked to collect the acknowledgement number after registering a complaint.
Call helpline:
Number: 08023320311
Mobile: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
9.30 am to 6 pm (on working days)
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For the latest updates, log on to deccanherald.com.