Chennai: All of southern states on Monday saw a dip in their daily COVID-19 numbers, as Tamil Nadu cured over 2.02 lakh persons and recorded a 76 per cent recovery rate while Karnataka's infections slipped below the 5,000 single-day mark for the first time in 10 days.

Incidentally, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are behind Maharashtra in the national tally with high caseloads.

On Monday, Tamil Nadu reported 109 deaths, the first-ever such score of fatalities so far. It recorded 5,609 fresh cases, 266 lesser than Sunday, taking the overall infection count to 2,63,222, a health department bulletin said. The death toll mounted to 4,241, it said.

A total of 5,800 people were discharged, eclipsing the new cases and taking the total recoveries to 2,02,283. Active cases stood at 56,698, the bulletin said.

Karnataka's COVID-19 daily count dropped below the 5,000 mark for the first time in 10 days on Monday, while it saw 98 deaths, taking the toll to 2,594. The state recorded 4,752 cases, taking the total number of infections to 1,39,571, while 4,776 patients were discharged after recovery, the health department said.

As of August 3, cumulatively 1,39,571 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 2,594 deaths and 62,500 discharges, the health department said in its bulletin. The state had clocked 5,532 cases on Sunday.

Kerala reported 962 fresh cases, down from the 1,169 on Sunday, while the total infections touched 26,867 with the latest additions. The death toll climbed to 84 with two more fatalities.

As many as 11,484 people are presently under treatment and 15,278 have recovered, including 815 discharged today, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters. In the last 24 hours, 19,343 samples have been tested.

Andhra Pradesh added 7,822 fresh cases on Monday, taking the tally to 1,66,586. Today's numbers were lesser by 733 as compared to Sunday's 8,555.

While 5,786 patients had recovered and been discharged from hospitals across the state, another 63 succumbed to the pandemic in the last 24 hours, a government bulletin said. With a total of 88,672 recoveries so far, the number of active cases now stood at 76,377 and the total fatalities increased to 1,537, the bulletin added.

Telangana reported 983 new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally of positive cases in the state to 67,660. With 11 more deaths, the coronavirus toll in the state rose to 551, a state government bulletin said on Monday, providing data as of 8 pm on August 2. The state's Saturday tally was 1,891 positive cases.

Puducherry Union Territory, after reporting its highest single-day spike of 200 cases on August 2, witnessed 178 fresh cases on Monday. The 178 new cases took the overall tally in the union territory to 3,982 of which 1,515 (including 273 in home isolation) were active, Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao said at a virtual press conference. He further said as many as 2,411 patients had been treated and discharged so far. 

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Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka School Education Department has issued a circular strictly prohibiting children from being made to dance to obscene songs in educational and cultural programmes.

It stated that such dances would negatively impact students' mental health and moral values. It will create indiscipline and harm the sanctity of education.

"All the Deputy Directors (Administration) of the state's School Education Department have been asked to take strict measures to prevent children or students from dancing to obscene songs in all government, aided and unaided schools in the state," the office of the commissioner of the School Education Department said in a recent circular.

"If it is found that children are being made to dance to obscene songs, appropriate action will be taken against the headmaster or management of such school," it added.

The department also listed certain measures in this regard, which include: strictly prohibiting children from being made to dance to obscene songs during educational and cultural programmes; selecting songs that are inspiring, positive, instilling national pride in children and reflecting the greatness, dignity, values, culture, and morality of the state.

Stating that the school headmaster and management are responsible for selecting songs and dances for cultural programmes, it said, they should also ensure that students wear decent clothes in dance or cultural programmes.