Bengaluru epicentre of COVID-19 in Karnataka: Health Minister Sudhakar
Bengaluru: Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar on Tuesday said Bengaluru has emerged as an epicentre of coronavirus cases in Karnataka and there was a need to work on a war footing.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, "Bengaluru is the epicentre of Karnataka. If you see the total cases, at least 70 per cent are reported in Bengaluru."
He was replying to queries on the all-party meeting to be chaired by Governor Vajubhai Vala.
Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa will attend the meeting virtually as he has got reinfected by the virus and is undergoing treatment.
Sudhakar said there will be discussion on Bengaluru and seven other districts, which have been designated as sensitive zones in view of the alarming rise in COVID cases.
He added that the government will seriously consider constructive suggestions by the opposition leaders such as Siddaramaiah, Congress state chief D K Shivakumar and JD(S) leader and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy.
According to him, the meeting has been convened because everyone has a role to play in this pandemic season and it should not be left to the government alone.
To a question on opposition's accusation that the government has miserably failed in managing the situation, Sudhakar said, "We have to be battle-ready for this war. We have to strive to protect people and their lives.
This is where our focus should be."
He, however, said, "We are unable to provide more number of ICU beds to the patients due to the rising coronavirus cases."
The minister also pointed out that India alone was not confronting the shortage of beds but the entire world, including the most advanced nations.
"Why is the death rate high in America and Europe? Is their health system there in disarray? This is a major pandemic spreading rapidly across the globe, which we had never seen before," Sudhakar said.
He underlined that infrastructure can still be created but the army of doctors and nurses cannot be raised overnight.
To another question on stringent measures to contain COVID-19 surge, Sudhakar blamed people for the current situation stating that if they had strictly followed the norms, there was no need for any lockdown or night curfew. PTI GMS ROH
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
