BBMP to reduce govt-quota COVID beds
BBMP has decided to reduce the number of government-quota COVID beds to about 1,800, due to the decrease in demand. Some of the CCCs (COVID Care Centres) have been closed. However, the civic body is keeping the city’s health infrastructure ready for a possible third wave, BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta said. According to BBMP’s data, of the 6,446 government quota beds available, over 6,000 were unoccupied as of Thursday.
However, the COVID second wave is not over yet, according to sources from the Karnataka’s Technical Advisory Committee. According to them, the next six weeks are crucial in further reducing the daily test positivity rate, which stood at 1.4% on Thursday.
As on Wednesday, Bengaluru Urban district also had the highest number of active cases of mucormycosis (851) in the state. Hospitals have been facing a shortage of drugs to treat the disease.
BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta said the lockdown would not be lifted at one go, but would be eased in a phased manner. The government is assessing the COVID scenario and will soon announce Unlock-4, he said.
Source: The New Indian Express, Indian Express, The Times of India, The Hindu
High vaccination levels in campuses, hesitancy in slums
Having vaccinated over 1.8 lakh students across Bengaluru, the BBMP is considering wrapping up its on-campus inoculation drive. The demand for vaccination on campuses has waned, which suggests that a sizeable number of students have been covered, BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta said.
Despite door-to-door surveys and awareness drives, several slum pockets reported vaccine hesitancy, officials said. BBMP has decided to distribute free ration kits to these groups so as to get them vaccinated. BBMP also plans to focus on vaccination for pregnant women soon.
Even as vaccination at PHCs (primary health centres) continue, camps will be organised depending on the supply and demand of doses, Gaurav Gupta said.
Source: The New Indian Express, Deccan Herald, Bangalore Mirror
BBMP collects Rs 12 cr fine for COVID norm violations
Since May 2020, BBMP has collected a total of Rs 12.04 crore as fines from citizens who violated COVID-appropriate behaviour in public places.
BMRCL has booked 3,084 cases for not wearing masks in the right manner and has collected Rs 7.6 lakh as penalty. The cases and fines pertain to the limited period of Metro operations from March 24 to April 27, and again from July 1 to 13.
Source: Indian Express, The New Indian Express
Read more: Hunger and fear of another lockdown stalks migrant workers
New MD for Metro
The 1994-batch IAS officer Anjum Parwez has been appointed the Managing Director of BMRCL (Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited). Parwez will replace Rakesh Singh, who had been appointed the head of Namma Metro just this April.
Source: Deccan Herald
Six suburban trains start services
The railways has restarted five sets of MEMU trains and introduced another set to connect Bengaluru with its satellite towns, starting Thursday.
Three trains have resumed daily services in the Baiyappanahalli-Hosur, KSR Bengaluru-Hosur, and the KSR Bengaluru-Marikuppam routes. Two other trains will run once a week on Bangarpet-Kuppam and Kuppam-KSR Bengaluru routes. Another train, between Banaswadi and Bangarpet, will also run once a week. The new train would run between Marikuppam and Bangarpet everyday.
Source: Deccan Herald
Read more: Why suburban rail shouldn’t hurry public consultation
II PU results on July 20
The Department of Pre-University Education (DPUE) has stated that the second year pre-university results will be announced on July 20. The details of the platform where students can access results, will be announced shortly.
The exam had been cancelled due to the COVID second wave, and the results are based on marks in previous exams and internal assessments. Candidates who are not satisfied with the results have the option to appear for an examination once COVID cases are under control.
Source: The Hindu
SSLC exam preparations
Preparations for the SSLC exams, scheduled to be held on July 19 and 22, have been completed. A paper covering all three core subjects (Mathematics, Science, Social Science) will be held on July 19, and another paper covering all three languages will be held on 22nd. Students were also being familiarised with the usage of Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets, on which they would answer the exam. This year, results would be out in just a fortnight, as there would be no manual evaluation.
Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar said that no student would be denied a hall ticket to attend the exams due to non-payment of fees. The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has issued a circular clarifying that all hall tickets have been uploaded to the KSEEB portal on June 29, after which the heads of institutions could download them.
Source: Indian Express
[Compiled by Revathi Siva Kumar]