BENGALURU: Even as the state machinery is ramping up its efforts to tackle the spread of COVID-19, a 28-year-old software engineer, employed in Paris, was admitted in a Vijayapura hospital with symptoms of the disease on Friday. The techie, a native of Hungund, was working in Paris for the last eight months and returned on February 5.
In Ballari district, a third suspected case was reported on Saturday. The Hosapete native landed in Bengaluru from Dubai last week and later travelled to Hyderabad, where he is being treated. The Holi celebrations at Hampi, hugely popular with locals as well as foreign tourists, may also take a hit this time due to the coronavirus fears.
Health department officials surveyed over a thousand houses in Gokarna of Karwar district, and 849 houses in the Tibetan colony at Mundgod. With masks and hand sanitisers becoming scarce and many pharmacies overcharging, the State Government has set up a special task force to deal with the situation.
In Bengaluru, the BBMP has prepared a cluster contingency plan wherever there are suspected cases. The government has also planned to suspend biometric attendance for the time-being at its offices, and also in corporate and IT companies, Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said on Saturday. Meanwhile, three more persons tested positive for coronavirus on Saturday, taking the number of confirmed cases in the country to 34. Tamil Nadu reported its first case of COVID-19 with a 45-year-old man, who recently visited Oman, testing positive. The two others are from Ladakh with travel history to Iran. reports: