Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday. This is the second time the 78-year-old Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader has contracted the virus. He has been admitted to Bengaluru’s Manipal Hospital for treatment. He was admitted to Ramaiah Memorial Hospital in Bengaluru with for the last two days. He tested negative for Covid-19 two days ago; however, he tested positive on Friday. Then he was shifted to Manipal Hospital. “Upon having mild fever, today I got tested for Covid-19 and my report has come out positive. Although I am doing fine, I am being hospitalised based on the advise of doctors. I request all those who have come in my contact recently to be observant and exercise self-quarantine,” read a tweet from chief minister’s official handle.
Before the testing positive, in the morning, Yediyurappa chaired a meeting with top officials of the government at his official residence to discuss the steps to be taken to contain the increasing number of cases in the state. The meeting was attended by the Karnataka health minister K Sudhakar and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) commissioner Gaurav Gupta among others. Following the meeting, Yediyurappa hinted at more stringent measures from April 20; however, he said that no new decisions were taken in the meeting. The chief minister has also convened an all-party meeting on the pandemic on April 18 in Bengaluru to discuss the imposition of stringent measure to contain the virus. Meanwhile, Karnataka reported its sharpest single-day spike of 14,738 fresh coronavirus cases and 66 related fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 11.09 lakh and the toll to 13,112 on Thursday. The state had previously reported its biggest single-day spike of 11,265 cases on Wednesday. Out of the 14,738 fresh cases reported on Thursday, 10,497 cases were from Bengaluru Urban alone.