Two more test positive, Coronavirus infected cases go up to 10 in Karnataka

Two more persons tested positive for COVID-19 late last night, taking the number of infected cases to 10 in Karnataka, Health Department officials said on Tuesday.

“We have got 2 more #COVID2019 cases in Karnataka taking the total number of confirmed cases to 10”, Health and Family Welfare Minister B Sriramulu tweeted. “Both are admitted in designated isolation hospital”.

One is a 20-year-old woman who travelled from the UK and another was a 60-year-old “contact” of the 76-year-old man from Kalaburagi who became the country’s first Coronavirus casualty last week, officials said.

Earlier on Monday, a 32-year-old man who returned from the US via London earlier this month tested positive for Coronavirus, making it the eighth case in Karnataka.

He was on home quarantine, and has now been admitted in isolation facility. “He has returned from US via London on 8th March 2020. (Same flight as Patient number-4 who was tested positive), officials said.

The Government on Monday decided to create “war-rooms” in state-run medical colleges-district hospitals in its fight against the COVID-19. There are a total of 17 districts where there are government medical colleges attached with hospitals.

Such medical colleges-government hospitals would themselves act as “war-rooms” to deal with the Coronavirus outbreak, according to Medical Education Minister Sudhakar K.

“In each medical colleges-government hospitals, a separate 150-200 bed zone will be created (to deal with such cases)”, he said after a meeting with Directors of Government-run medical colleges on Monday.

Health department officials said in the remaining 13 districts, the government would reach out to private medical colleges and hospitals to join hands to contain the spread of the virus.

Karnataka’s 10 coronavirus positive cases include that of a 76-year-old man from Kalaburagi who died “due to co-morbidity and has also tested positive for COVID-19” last week.