Coronavirus death toll rises to 908 in China
Beijing: The death toll in China due to novel coronavirus epidemic has gone up to 908 and the number of confirmed cases rose over 40,000, Chinese health officials said on Monday. There were 97 deaths and 3,062 new confirmed cases of the lethal infection on Sunday, China's National Health Commission said.
Ninety-one deaths were in Hubei province, the epicentre of the epidemic, two in Anhui, and one each in Heilongjiang, Jiangxi, Hainan and Gansu, according to the commission.
A total of 908 people have died of the disease and 40,171 confirmed cases of the outbreak were reported in 31 provincial-level regions so far, it said.
Another 4,008 new suspected cases were reported on Sunday. Moreover, 296 patients became seriously ill, the commission said, adding that 6,484 patients remained in severe condition and 23,589 people were suspected of being infected with the virus.
A total of 3,281 people had been discharged from hospital after recovery.
The commission said 3.99 lakh close contacts had been traced, adding that among them, 29,307 were discharged from medical observation on Sunday, with 1.87 lakh still under medical observation.
By the end of Sunday, 36 confirmed cases, including one death, had been reported in Hong Kong, 10 confirmed cases in Macao and 18 in Taiwan. Overseas, over 300 cases of coronavirus have been reported, including from three from Kerala. Meanwhile, millions of people have started returning to Beijing and other cities in China after the extended holiday of China's New Year.
The holidays, which began on January 24 and were due to end on February 3, has been extended till February 9 as part of its efforts to contain the spread of the virus.
However, the employees of most of the offices have been asked to work from home.
As the biggest reverse migration began, Chinese officials said on Saturday that the cases of the deadly infection had started declining for the first time after weeks of sharp rise.
China's new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus outside Hubei has been dropping for six consecutive days, according to the commission.
A total of 444 new confirmed cases were reported on Sunday outside Hubei, the data showed.
The numbers of new confirmed cases in these provinces during the past days were 890 on Monday, 731 on Tuesday, 707 on Wednesday, 696 on Thursday, 558 on Friday and 509 on Saturday, the commission said.
The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Saturday that the UN health agency would send an international mission to China as it received a response from Beijing.
WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the team leader would leave early next week with the rest of the experts to follow. The UN health agency said the number of cases of the coronavirus in China was "stabilising", which is a "good news". It, however, cautioned that it was too early to make any predictions about whether the virus might have peaked.
"There has been a stabilisation in the number of cases reported from Hubei," Michael Ryan, head of WHO's Health Emergencies Programme said at a briefing in Geneva.
"We're in a four-day stable period where the number of reported cases hasn't advanced. That's good news and may reflect the impact of the control measures that have been put in place," Ryan was quoted as saying. But he added that it was "very early to make any predictions".
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25 lakh properties in Bengaluru brought under e-Khata system: Shivakumar
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Friday said that the state government has brought over 25 lakh properties under the e-Khata system in Bengaluru.
e-Khata is an electronic property certificate that maintains ownership information in an online database.
The e-Khata initiative aimed to ensure accuracy, transparency and universal coverage for property owners, he said.
Addressing a press conference here, Shivakumar, who is also the Bengaluru in-charge Minister, said over 25 lakh properties are being brought under the e-Khata system. Of them more than 7,000 applications have been processed, and additional outreach measures being planned for those yet to obtain their e-Khata.
"Twenty five lakh e-Khatas is a great number which has created history," he said.
The Deputy CM said the government is ensuring that every e-Khata will have its GPS, the shape of the property, and the measurement with every photo and document.
He explained that the government is integrating Aadhaar details, digital documentation, GPS mapping and property sketches to create a robust database.
"We want to see that every record is filled right. They (officials) are asking for documentation, stamp, digital documents. We wanted to connect every Aadhaar card and have it online," Shivakumar said.
To facilitate access, the Deputy CM announced the opening of more than 50 centres across Bengaluru, many of them in government schools, where citizens can apply for or rectify their e-Khata records.
"All of them will be working this Saturday. This 'Khata Mela' will be done. It is 'Nanna Khata, Nanna Swathu'," he said.
Applicants whose documents require verification will be given an acknowledgement and asked to return after 15 days, during which officials will conduct site inspections, he said.
Shivakumar said the government has also taken steps to identify and reclaim properties recorded as roads in revenue documents, asserting that such lands belong to the government.
"We have decided through the law that all the roads in the revenue records have been taken out. Those properties belong to the government itself," he said.
He noted that the initiative has received recognition from the Union government. "The Government of India has awarded us. It said that it is the model for the entire country," he said, while thanking officials involved in the project.
The Deputy CM said the government expects around 10 lakh additional households to benefit from the drive and assured that even those who have not downloaded their documents will receive printed copies free of cost at their residences.
"We will see that all the 25 lakh people will get their e-Khata to their home free of cost," Shivakumar said.
On apartment properties, he said all flats that have obtained occupancy certificates have been cleared.
"All the 37,460 flats (who have applied for e-Khata) have been issued an occupancy certificate. We have cleared all of them," the Deputy CM said.
