A 42-year-old coronavirus patient died of cardiac arrest in Karnataka, taking the fatalities in the state to 14 even as 25 new cases were confirmed on Saturday, minister for primary and secondary education minister Suresh Kumar said.
"The 42-year-old coronavirus infected man from Vijayapura died of cardiac arrest on April 16... lab reports confirmed on April 18 that he was positive for COVID-19,"he told reporters.
The deceased had visited Bengaluru with two other coronivirus patients, he said, but did not specify the date.
Kumar said there was no need for people to panic just because they were diagonsed with COVID-19 as 104 people had recovered from the disease and had been discharged.
"Coronavirus is curable and there are a large number of people who have recovered," he added.
Giving the break up of the 25 cases, he said seven each were from Bagalkote and Mysuru, three in Bengaluru city, two each in Kalaburagi and Vijayapura and one each in Belagavi, Dharwad, Mandya and Gadag.
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He said nine of the 10 foreign nationals who had visited a pharmaceutical company at Nanjangud, which has been declared a coronavirus hotspot with 67 people testing positive, were contacted and had not shown any symptoms of COVID-19.
The tenth foreign national, who is from Germany, could not be contacted, Kumar said.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka government on Saturday decided to ease many lockdown restrictions after April 20, including allowing industries to operate, but later withdrew two restrictions, including allowing two wheelers to ply after that date and for 33 per cent staff in the IT-BT sector to attend office, to give a thrust to economic activities.
"However the easing of restrictions will not be permitted in COVID-19 affected areas in the state which will be declared as containment zones," Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa told reporters after chairing a high-level meeting, attended by senior ministers and officials.
"It was decided that there will be no restrictions on the transportation of essential goods, as well as construction materials like gravel, sand, cement and steel," he said.
Construction workers will be allowed to stay where they are employed, he added.
Industries would be permitted to function in industrial clusters in villages and Special Economic Zones or industrial townships in urban areas, he said.
Inter district movement of vehicles would not be permitted, barring between Ramanagar, Bengaluru urban and Bengaluru rural district.
"These three districts will be considered as one district in view of hectic movement of people due to industrial activities, Yediyurappa said.
In the containment zones, an "incident commander" having magisterial powers would be appointed.
He would head a team of police and health officials to ensure there are no violations in the zones.
Residents within these zones would not be allowed to come out of their homes and essential items would be supplied to them at their doorsteps, he said.