Twenty-nine new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Karntaka, taking the total number of infections to 474, the State government said on Friday, and appealed not to stigmatise those affected by COVID-19 and their families.
The appeal from the government came as the last rites of a 75-year old woman COVID-19 patient from Bantwala in Dakshina Kannada, who died on Thursday was performed amid stiff resistance from locals.
"Just because of one is infected by COVID-19, he or she should not be stigmatised, no family should become untouchable. Last evening after the elderly woman's death lot of resistance came for her last rites in Bantwala...finally officials had to intervene," Minister S Suresh Kumar, who is spokesperson for COVID-19 in Karnataka said.
Recollecting similar incidents in neighboring Tamil Nadu, the Minister speaking to reporters said, such acts of not allowing last rites of those affected by the virus is inhuman, it may be due to lack of education or knowledge, and we as a society need to work on it.
Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar too said, many people are treating corona as a social stigma, it is not right and there is no reason to get frightened about it, as the infection can be cured in most cases.
As of 5 pm on April 24, cumulatively 474 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, it includes 18 deaths and 152 discharges, the department said in its bulletin.
Out of 304 active cases, 299 COVID-19 positive patients (including one pregnant woman) are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while five are in ICU.
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Seven patients who have recovered have been discharged on Friday.
Twenty-nine new cases have been confirmed for COVID-19 in the state.
Of these, 19 are from Bengaluru urban- eleven are contacts of a 54-year old labourer, who tested positive on Wednesday; five of them accused in Padayarayanapura violence; two with history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI); and one with the history of Influenza Like Illness (ILI).
While, three from Bagalkote, two each are from Belagavi and Vijayapura, one each are from Tumakuru, Mandya and Chikkaballapura.
Twenty-four out of 29 cases are contacts of patients already tested positive, while two each are with history of SARI and ILI, and the other is with travel history to Surat in Gujarat.
Contact tracing has been initiated and is in progress for all the cases, the department said.
Responding to a question, Suresh Kumar said totally 116 people were arrested for the violence let loose on health workers in Padarayanapura here last week, and were placed in Ramanagara jail, along with 17 other prisoners- totally 133 people have been shifted to Hajj Bhavan in Bengaluru, which will become a quarantine zone.
Five people among those arrested for Padarayanapura incident and kept in Ramanagara jail testing positive had triggered sharp reactions from the opposition Congress and JD(S) as they hit out at the government for shifting the accused to Ramanagara, which hitherto remained a green zone with no COVID-19 cases.
Asked about the decision to shift convicts to Ramanagara jail, Kumar said, "it was an administrative decision by the prison department."
From across the state most number of infections have been reported in Bengaluru urban with 120 cases, followed by Mysuru 88 and Belagavi 45.
Out of the total 152 patients discharged so far maximum 49 are from Bengaluru, 33 from Mysuru, eleven from Dakshina Kannada.
While among the dead are four each from Bengaluru urban and Kalaburagi, two each from Chikkaballapura, Dakshina Kannada and Vijayapura, and one each from Belagavi, Bagalkote, Gadag and Tumakuru.
A total of 35,958 samples were tested so far, out of which 3,836 were tested on Friday alone.
So far 31,914 samples have reported as negative, and out of them 3,740 were reported negative on Friday.
Meanwhile, Karnataka is likely to start Convalescent Plasma Therapy for COVID-19 patients, who are critical, from tomorrow, Medical Education Minister Sudhakar said.
On the other hand, furthering the lockdown relaxation in a bid to revive the state s economy, Karnataka Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar has allowed rural industries in nine COVID-19 free districts will be allowed to start operations.
Industries located in the rural areas of Yadgir, Koppal, Shivamogga, Chikmagalur, Kolar, Chamarajnagar, Raichur, Haveri and Hassan have been permitted to operate, it said.
The Commissioner Health and Family Welfare Services has issued a circular based on order from state government for RT-PCT testing of all asymptomatic police personnel involved in quarantine, isolation, surveillance activities of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state.
Accordingly, it has been decided to go in for one-time linear screening of front-line workers of Bengaluru City Police, it said.
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