Five new coronavirus cases in Karnataka, total mounts to 20

Five fresh coronavirus cases have been reported in Karnataka on Saturday, taking the total number to 20 in the state, the Health department said.

"Till date 20 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state which includes one death," it said in a bulletin.

It said 18 positive patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable.

Sharing details of the new cases, the department said three are from Bengaluru, while the other two are from Chikkaballapura and Mysuru.

The patients from the city who tested positive include a 53-year-old woman, a "high risk contact" of another person who tested positive earlier and was on strict home quarantine.

The other two are a 39-year-old man, who had returned from Amsterdam, on March 19, and a 21-year-old man, who had returned from Edinburgh, Scotland on March 17.

A 31-year-old man from Chikkaballapura with a travel history to Mecca has tested positive.

He had returned to India on March 14.

The other is a 35-year-old man from Mysuru who returned from Dubai.

As per the bulletin, total samples collected for testing are 1,377, and on Saturday alone 170 were collected.

A total of 996 samples have reported negative, with 26 reporting negative on Saturday alone.

AdditionalChief Secretary(Health and Family Welfare and Medical Education) Jawaid Akhtar said, it has been decided to use services of 10 senior IAS officers as nodal officers to coordinate the COVID-19 containment activities.

Speaking to reporters, he also suggested that in order to maintain social distancing, the daily press conference regarding COVID-19 bulletins can be held through video conferene from Monday.

As part of monitoring, directions have been issued to set up teams of members belonging to revenue, police, municipality and health to visit all home quarantined passengers to stamp on the back of the left hand palm showing the date of end of the quarantine period, officials said.

The department said a circular has been issued to Health and Family Welfare Department officials and staff at all levels to work even on Sundays and general holidays without fail till March 31 to control the spread of COVID-19.

It said 48 government hospital and 35 private hospitals have been identified as first respondent hospitals for the case management of the virus cases.

Officials said directions have been given to markets and malls to reduce peak hour crowding, maintain social distancing and initiate public information measures through displays and electronic media.

Also, directions have been given to the management of online marketing services to provide masks and sanitisers to delivery executives.