Karnataka: 6,317 COVID-19 cases reported; Death toll breaches 4,000 mark
Bengaluru: The COVID-19 death toll in Karnataka breached the 4,000 mark on Monday, as the state reported 6,317 new cases and 115 fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 2,33,283, the health department said.
The day also saw recoveries overtaking the number of new positive cases, with 7,071 patients getting discharged.
Out of the 6,317 fresh cases reported on Monday, 2,053 were from Bengaluru urban alone.
As of August 17 evening, cumulatively 2,33,283 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 4,062 deaths and 1,48,562 discharges, the health department said in its bulletin.
It said that out of 80,643 active cases, 79,948 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 695 are in Intensive Care Units.
Thirty-nine out of 115 deaths reported on Monday were from Bengaluru urban, followed by Belagavi and Hassan (9 each), Dakshina Kannada (8), Kalaburagi (7), Ballari (6), Dharwad and Mysuru (5 each), Haveri, Koppal and Shivamogga (4 each), Raichur and Vijayapura (3 each), Chikkamagaluru and Tumakuru (2 each), and Bagalkote, Kodagu, Mandya, Udupi and Uttara Kannada (1 each).
Contacts of most of the deaths reported today are still under tracing.
Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Bengaluru urban accounted for 2,053, Mysuru 597, Shivamogga 397, Ballari 319, Udupi 268, Hassan 250, Dharwad 201, followed by others.
Bengaluru urban district topped the list of positive cases, with 91,864 infections, followed by Ballari 14,507 and Mysuru 11,132.
Among discharges too Bengaluru urban was on top with 55,972 discharges, followed by Ballari 8,554 and Kalaburagi 6,885, the bulletin said.
A total of 20,75,086 samples have been tested so far, out of which 37,700 were on Monday alone.
Among the samples tested today, 14,489 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.
