7 new COVID-19 cases in Karnataka; total goes up to 415
Bengaluru: An 80-year-old man became the 17th COVID-19 fatality in Karnataka, where seven new cases of coronavirus were confirmed, taking the total number of infected in the state to 415, the health department said on Tuesday.
The elderly man, who died at a hospital in Kalaburagi in northern Karnataka, was a known case of Parkinson's disease and bed ridden for the last three years, the department said in its mid-day situation update on COVID-19.
He was admitted to the designated hospital in Kalaburagi on April 19 with complaint of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) and died on Monday and his test report later confirmed he was infected with coronavirus.
Earlier in the day, announcing the fresh death, Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar said the man died at 9 am on Monday.
"...last night at 9 pm the death report came, which confirmed that he was COVID-19 positive," he tweeted.
Seven new positive cases, including the deceased in Kalaburagi, have been reported from last evening till this noon, the health department said.
"Till date 415 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed. This includes 17 deaths and 114 discharges," it said.
Of the other six new cases, three are from Vijayapura, two from Kalaburagi, and one from Bantwala in Dakshina Kannada district with four of them being women.
Four out of seven are contacts of patients already tested positive, two are with history of SARI and one with Influenza-like illness (ILI).
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Toll charges across Karnataka to rise by up to 5% from April 1
Bengaluru: Vehicle users across Karnataka will pay higher toll charges from April 1, with rates set to increase by 3–5 per cent as part of the annual inflation-linked revision. The revised fares are expected to be formally notified in the coming days.
A senior official from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) was quoted by Decan Herald as saying that the hike is linked to the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) and will apply to nearly all toll plazas in the state. Around 10 toll plazas, however, will see revised rates later in the year, from September 1.
The official explained that the increase is calculated in line with the WPI and then rounded off. “If the hike works out to ₹2.5 or more, it will be rounded off to ₹5,” he said.
The Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway which was inaugurated in 2023, will see revised rates in toll plazas of Kaniminike and Sheshagirihalli on the Bengaluru-Mysuru stretch, Bagepalli on the Bengaluru-Hyderabad highway, Sadahalli on the Bengaluru Airport Road, Nangli on the Bengaluru-Tirupati route along with Hulikunte and Nalluru Devanahalli on the Satellite Town Ring Road.
K B Jayakumar, Project Director, NHAI, told Deccan Herald that the revision has been carried out in accordance with the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, 2008. “Toll charges at all public-funded plazas will be increased in accordance with the 2008 Fee Rules. This happens at the start of every financial year,” he said.
He added that in Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) toll plazas where operations commenced before 2008, the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, 1997 apply, allowing fare revisions at other times during the financial year. A maximum hike of five per cent is expected.
Jayanth Reddy, a resident of Whitefield who frequently travels to Mysuru for work, told Deccan Herald that has witnessed multiple toll revisions since it became operational and the recurring hikes add to the burden on the costliest routes in the state. “A toll charge of ₹180 for one-way travel is already quite high,” he said.
Travel operators also expressed concern. Santosh, who runs a travel agency, said passengers travelling from Bengaluru to Kerala are particularly affected. “We pass on the entire toll charge to customers. At present, the total toll for a road trip ranges between ₹2,000 and ₹3,000,” he said.
