Biggest single-day spike of 8,818 new cases in Karnataka
Bengaluru: Karnataka on Saturday reported the biggest single-day spike of over 8,800 new cases of COVID-19 and 114 related fatalities.
With this, the total number of infections rose to 2,19,926 and death toll to 3,831 in the state, the health department said.
The day also saw 6,629 patients getting discharged after recovery. Out of 8,818 fresh cases, 3,495 of them were from Bengaluru urban alone.
The previous biggest single-day spike was recorded on Friday with 7,908 cases.
As of August 15 evening, 2,19,926 positive cases have been confirmed and they included 3,831 deaths and 1,34,811 discharges, the health department said.
It said that out of 81,276 active cases, 80,560 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable while 716 are in the intensive care unit (ICU).
A total of 35 out of 114 deaths reported on Saturday were from Bengaluru urban followed by Mysuru (10), Dharwad (7), Ballari and Dakshina Kannada (6), Belagavi, Davangre and Shivamogga (5), Hassan and Chikkamagaluru (4), Raichur and Bidar (3), Udupi, Vijayapura, Kalaburagi, Koppal, Tumakuru, Bengaluru Rural, Gadag and Haveri, and Mandya, Uttara Kannada, Yadgir, Chamarajanagara and Chikkaballapura (1).
Most of the dead were either with a history of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) or influenza-like illness (ILI).
Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Bengaluru urban accounted for 3,495, Ballari 759, Mysuru 635, Belagavi 358, Davangere 327, Dakshina Kannada 271, Udupi 241, Dharwad 239, Vijapura 232 followed by others.
Bengaluru urban district topped the list of positive cases with a total of 87,680 infections followed by Ballari 13,807 and Mysuru 9,915.
Among those discharged too, Bengaluru urban topped the list with a total of 51,426 followed by Ballari 7,504 and Kalaburagi 6,369.
A total of 19,93,760 samples were tested so far out of which 54,806 were tested on Saturday alone. Among the samples during the day, 25,731 were rapid antigen tests.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
