67 new COVID-19 cases in Karnataka, most cases with inter- state travel history

(Eds; adding details) Bengaluru, May 20 () Cases with inter-state travel history continued to haunt Karnataka, as the state reported 67 new COVID-19 positive cases and a fatality, taking the total number of infections to 1,462 and the death toll to 41, the health department said on Wednesday.

"Fifty two out of these 67 cases newly confirmed for coronavirus infections have an inter-state travel history.

Among them, 51 are from neighboring Maharashtra and one from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh," Minister S Suresh Kumar, who is the spokesperson for COVID-19 in Karnataka, told reporters here.

He said "...we are facing problems because of import (of cases) from other states."

As Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa recently stated, movement of people from Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu has been stopped for the time being until space in cleared in the quarantine centres, which has mostly people from these states after duly testing them, Kumar said.

Asked about the impact of the Centre's decision to withdraw consent of states for operating Shramik trains carrying migrants on Karnataka's deciding to prohibit entry of people from three states, he said ".. we have to look into it.

Now we have stopped direct trains and by-road movement from these states. We will examine regarding Shramik trains and how to go about it."

Meanwhile the fatalities in the state rose to 41 with the death of a 43-year-old man from Bengaluru Urban.

The deceased had a history of hypertension and myocarditis with also inter-state travel history Vellore in Tamil Nadu, the health department bulletin said. He was admitted at a private hospital in Bengaluru on May 18 and died today.

According to the bulletin, as of May 20 evening, cumulatively 1,462 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 41 deaths and 556 discharges.

Out of 864 active cases, 849 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 15 are in Intensive Care Units.

Thirteen patients, who have recovered, were discharged on Wednesday.

The 67 confirmed positive cases include 21 from Hassan, Bidar-10, Mandya-8, Kalburagi- 7, Udupi- 6, Tuamakuru, Raichur and Bengaluru urban- 4, and one each from Yadgir, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada.

Bengaluru urban district still tops the list of positive cases with a total of 250 infections, followed by Mandya 168 and Kalaburagi 134.

Among discharges too, Bengaluru urban tops the list with total of 128, followed by Mysuru 88 and Belagavi 64.

A total of 1,66,781 samples were tested so far, of which 8,182 were tested on Wednesday alone.

So far 1,64,199 samples have reported as negative, and out of them 7,952 reported negative on Wednesday.

The Minister said one Rajdhani express arrived in Bengaluru with 180 passengers and swab tests were conducted on 22 of them at the railway station

They included six children, a pregnant woman and 15 people aged above 60 years.

A total of 94 passengers arrived by flight and no one is symptomatic, he said.

Meanwhile, 24 police personnel in the city have been quarantined after two people who were detained at their station in connection with a theft case here, tested positive for COVID-19.

The personnel, attached to the Hebbagodi police station here, have been sent to an institutional quarantine centre, police said on Wednesday. KSU GMS APR RAVINDRANATH APR RAVINDRANATH