Bengaluru, Apr 21 () Seventeen COVID-19 patients weredischarged from designated hospitals after recovery on Tuesdayin Karnataka, where 10 new coronavirus cases were reported,including one death, the health department said.
A 80-year-old man from Kalaburagi became the 17th COVID-19 fatality in the state.
The deceased was suffering from Parkinson s disease sincethe last four years and had been bed ridden for the last threeyears, the department said in its bulletin. He got admitted on April 19 at a designated hospital inKalaburagi with complaint of Severe Acute RespiratoryInfection (SARI), and died at the hospital, it said.
Ten COVID-19 cases were reported in the state on Tuesday.
Cumulatively 418 COVID-19 positive cases have beenconfirmed in the state, including 17 deaths and 129discharges, the bulletin said.
Out of the 272 active cases, 267 patients (including apregnant woman) are in isolation at designated hospitals andare stable, while 5 are in Intensive Care Units.
"Seventeen discharges have taken place today afterrecovery. It is a good number," Minister S Suresh Kumar, whois the spokesperson for COVID-19 in Karnataka, told reporters.
Of the nine cases, other than the deceased, three arefrom Vijayapura, two each from Kalaburagi and Nanjanagudu inMysuru, and one each from Bantwala in Dakshina Kannada andBelagavi.
Seven out of 10 cases are contacts of patients alreadytested positive, two have a history of Severe AcuteRespiratory Infection (SARI) and one with Influenza-likeillness (ILI).
Contact tracing has been initiated and was in progressfor all the cases, the department said.
Nine out of total 418 cases detected and confirmed inKarnataka so far are transit passengers of Kerala.
The most number of infections have been reported inBengaluru urban with 89 cases, followed by Mysuru 86 andBelagavi 43.
Out of total of 129 patients discharged, the maximum of48 are from Bengaluru, 31 from Mysuru and 11 from DakshinaKannada.
Among the dead, four each are from Bengaluru urban andKalaburagi, two each from Chikkaballapura and Vijayapura, andone each from Belagavi, Bagalkote, Gadag, Dakshina Kannada andTumakuru.
A total of 26,233 samples were tested so far, out ofwhich 2,773 were tested on Tuesday alone.
So far 22,222 samples have reported as negative, ofwhich 2,725 tested negative on Tuesday.
The Minister said the centre's Director General HealthServices, Central Drug Standard Control Organisation(Biological Division), has sent a letter to Dr. Vishal Rao ofHealth Care Global Enterprises limited and his team inKarnataka, granting permission to conduct clinical study(trial) in plasma therapy for treating COVID-19 patients.
"We were waiting for this for a long time. Definitelythis is good news. I wish success to the team in theirclinical trial," he said.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka Chief Secretary issued acircular instructing 18 essential departments, including theSecretariat, to function with full staff and other Departmentsto function with 33 per cent workforce
The departments are- Health & Family Welfare, MedicalEducation, Home, Revenue, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj,Urban Development, Food, Civil Supply, Information and PublicRelations, Transport, Energy, DPAR (E-Governance).
Also, Finance, Including all Treasuries in the state,Animal Husbandry and Fishery, Forest, Environment and Ecology,Agricultural Marketing, Agriculture, Labour, and Horticulture.
In another circular, the Department of Health & FamilyWelfare sought the support of Medical Colleges in startingFever Clinic and said colleges need to give their consentfor establishing the clinics at their respective Hospitals. The District Administration would monitor and supervise theactivities of the Fever Clinics, it said, adding that therequired logistics and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)would be provided by the department free of cost.
Alarmed by reports that 53 media persons have testedpositive for coronavirus in neighboring Maharashtra, theKarnataka government on Tuesday decided to conduct tests forthe journalists in Bengaluru.
"The Information department is preparing modalities forit....it is good if journalists who are working in theforefront also undergo tests," the minister added. KSU APRRAVINDRANATH APRRAVINDRANATH