Walter de sa, Principal of St. Xavier's College, Mapusa, Goa

Bengaluru, March 22 Six new coronavirus positive cases were confirmed in Karnataka on Sunday, raising the total to 26, an official said."Till date, 26 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state which includes one death," said a health official.A 35-year-old man from Dharwad tested positive for the virus on Sunday. He returned to India from Dubai via Goa on March 11.The health department traced four primary contacts of the Dharwad man who emerged as the state's 21st positive case.Karnataka's 22nd case is a 64-year-old woman who visited Mecca, Saudi Arabia with her son, who also turned positive before her as 19th case.The mother-son duo travelled to Gowribidanur, Chikballapur on March 14 via Hyderabad. They landed in Hyderabad and proceeded to Hindupura on train and reached Gowribidanur on March 15 by bus.The government traced four contacts of the old woman.Case number 23 is a 36-year-old Bengaluru woman who flew to Switzerland and France and returned on March 9. She is currently being treated at a hospital.Next, a 27-year-old man from the city who went to Germany on March 8 and returned on March 14. He is currently being treated at a designated hospital.The state health department traced 14 primary contacts of the 27-year-old man and a whopping 237 secondary contacts.A 51-year-old man from Bengaluru is the 25th positive case in the state, he returned from London on March 13 and is admitted in hospital now.Six primary and 10 secondary contacts have been traced.Karnataka's 26th coronavirus positive case is a 22-year-old Bhatkal resident. He arrived from Dubai on March 19 on a Spicejet flight.Currently, he is isolated at Wenlock Hospital in Mangaluru. Three of the six positive cases on Sunday, highest on a single day thus far, hail from Bengaluru.The health department is continuing with contact tracing of the six new cases.Reinforcing COVID-19 combat, as many as 1.27 lakh passengers were thermal screened in Karnataka."Total international passengers landed and screened at Bengaluru airport on Saturday and till 8 a.m. on Sunday were 1,406, out of which five were isolated and 1,401 quarantined," said an official statement.Between March 17 and Saturday, 7,998 international passengers landed at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA).Meanwhile, the state government has postponed all SSLC examinations until further orders.Similarly, under pressure from students and parents, following the lockdown of nine coronavirus-hit districts, the state government has called off Monday's PUC exam.The health department will medically examine all symptomatic and asymptomatic people who were in contact with positive cases."Facilities will be equipped and capacity improved immediately, so that for every 10 lakh population, minimum 200 tests can be conducted," said the statement.The state government has postponed all elections until further orders.Karnataka government has decided to thermal screen domestic passengers as well at the airports where only international passengers were being screened till now.Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) will not ply air conditioned buses till the month-end and operate only 50 per cent of ordinary services, said a spokesperson.( With inputs from IANS )

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