Eleven new COVID-19 positive cases were reported in Karnataka on Tuesday, taking the State’s total to 523. Six of them are from Kalaburagi. On Tuesday, the number of patients discharged, at 14, was more than the number of new cases.
Primary and Secondary Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar said 39.5% of the total 523 patients have already been discharged. Seven of the 295 patients isolated in different hospitals across the State are in intensive care units. Besides Kalaburagi, three new cases were reported from Bagalkot district and one each from Bengaluru Urban and Gadag on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Health and Family Welfare Department has collected samples from the labour colony at Vidyajyothinagar, Hongasandra ward, and Padarayanapura, which the BBMP marked as containment zones after several COVID-19 cases were detected. Mr. Suresh Kumar said 145 random samples taken from Hongasandra and 70 from Padarayanapura had tested negative.
For pregnant women
The department announced on Tuesday that pregnant women, even if asymptomatic, must be tested for COVID-19. In an order, it stated that arrangements should be made to collect and transfer samples to testing facilities. The order also states that no health centre nor hospital should decline emergency maternity services to pregnant women.
The department has drafted an action plan in coordination between blood banks and NGOs and has opened a call centre (9154153920) where people can register as donors.
Randomised testing
The department said there was no shortage of testing kits. Pankaj Kumar Pandey, Commissioner, Health and Family Welfare, said that the State government was working towards enhancing its testing capacity. Primary and Secondary Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar said that they wanted to conduct more randomised testing.
