Revised guidelines
Markets and commercial centres face some restrictions as the festival season kicked off with Varamahalakshmi and Muharram on August 20th. Shops, restaurants and mall owners have to ensure that their employees are vaccinated at least once and customers wear masks and maintain social distancing. Shop owners failing to enforce these rules face a fine or closure of their establishments.
The Chief Commissioner has said 50 teams of marshals, home guards and police will patrol the city to enforece COVID appropriate behaviour rules based and punish people violating COVID norms.
Travellers from Kerala or Maharashtra are required to show a negative RT-PCR test report not more than 72 hours old, whether they are vaccinated or not.
BBMP has also revised some guidelines for resident welfare associations, apartment complexes and housing societies. It has relaxed rules for vendor services, couriers and delivery services, who will now be able to use the building’s lifts. Those who deliver important services like gas, medical care, plumbing, water supply and civil works can also now enter.
Meanwhile, home quarantine posters and reporting of anyone found with symptoms, or having a travel history, would help officials in contact tracing, testing and triaging.
Source: The Hindu, The New Indian Express
SOPs to reopen schools
As high schools are set to reopen from August 23 in districts where the positivity rate is less than 2%, the Department of Primary and Secondary Education has announced the schedule for classes and released a set of standard operating procedures (SOPs).
As per the SOPs, classes IX and X will be held from 10 am to 1.30 pm from Monday to Friday, while it will be held between 10 am. and 12.15 pm. on Saturday. Class VIII students can come in the afternoon to get their doubts clarified.
Pre-university colleges (for classes equivalent to XI and XII) in Karnataka have been asked to conduct online and offline classes at 50% student capacity after the state permitted offline classes from August 23. Pre-university colleges have been asked to divide students into separate batches for offline and online classes and will apply primarily to those colleges with student strength of more than 100.
Managements of private colleges, however, can reopen in October only. A new syllabus has to be framed under the National Education Policy (NEP). But many college managements have raised objections to the implementation of the NEP this year citing that they have already commenced classes.
Meanwhile, the KSEEB (Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board) has issued the timetable for the SSLC (Class 10) supplementary examinations on September 27 and 29. A combined paper with multiple choice questions in mathematics, science and social science will be on September 27. The three language papers on September 29 will also follow the same rule.
Source: Indian Express
Mucormycosis cases on the rise
Even though there has been a fall in new COVID cases, the number post-COVID mucormycosis cases seem to be on the rise. The maximum number of such cases were detected in Bengaluru Urban (1,181) and the city has also reported the most deaths (149).
The Delta variant remains a major concern. Of 192 samples evaluated by BBMP, the variant was detected in 148.
Meanwhile, daily new cases in Bengaluru urban have been around 350-400 for the past few days, with the highest numbers mainly in 10 city wards, eight of which are located in the city’s peripheries. An analysis of new cases by the war room teams show that most new cases are apartment residents of with a travel history.
Meanwhile, the BBMP has started its door-to-door survey and health check-ups to determine the general health of the city’s residents.
Source: Deccan Herald, The New Indian Express, Bangalore Mirror
Read More: Third wave of the pandemic: Is Bengaluru prepared?
Child health drive
A new child screening programme, Arogya Nandana, is being taken up to detect COVID symptoms, weak nutrition, lack of immunity and comorbidities among children. About 1.5 crore children will be tested over the next few weeks.
While they will be given nutrition and supplements to boost immunity, their health too will be monitored. As Anganwadis are not operating, the state will rope in ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers and Anganwadi teachers. They will provide information on children up to 18 in each village. The scheme is being taken up jointly by the Health and the Women & Child Development departments.
Source: Deccan Herald, Indian Express, The Hindu
New HC judges
The Supreme Court Collegium, at a meeting on August 17th headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana, has given the green signal to appoint six Additional judges of the Karnataka High Court as permanent judges. The judges who have been made permanent are Justices Neranahalli Srinivasan Sanjay Gowda, Jyoti Mulimani, Nataraj Rangaswamy, Hemant Chandangoudar, Pradeep Singh Yerur and Maheshan Nagaprasanna.
Source: Indian Express
Read More: Pollution watchdog’s penalty spree: Apartments get stay from court
BMRCL’s new run
The BMRCL (Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited) has got authorisation from the CMRS (Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety) to start Namma Metro’s commercial operations in the extended Purple Line, running from Mysuru Road station to Kengeri.
Meanwhile, the BMRCL signed an agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a $500 million (Rs 3,643 crore) loan for building the airport metro corridor. The 58.18 km corridor, estimated to cost Rs 14,788 crore, consists of two metro lines: Silk Board-KR Puram (Phase 2A) and Kasturi Nagar-Kempegowda International Airport (Phase 2B).
Source: The Hindu, Deccan Herald