Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru/Udupi (SHP)

Mangaluru/Udupi, Sep 16: As a part of the strike by government doctors in the state, no daily data on the number of coronavirus cases are being released. With doctors of government hospitals in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi also joining the strike, no bulletin was released to the local media on Wednesday September 16.

This is the third straight day that the daily COVID bulletin was not released to the media in Udupi, while in Dakshina Kannada, the statistics were available until Tuesday September 15.

However, the state health department updated the daily health bulletin according to which, Dakshina Kannada reported 466 new cases and two non-COVID deaths, while Udupi recorded 191 cases on Wednesday. Dakshina Kannada's tally of positive cases rose to 18,558 with 4,499 active cases, while Udupi's tally climbed to 14,278 with 2,106 active cases.

The protesting doctors along with withholding the daily data regarding the COVID-19 health bulletin have also suspended all the OPD (outpatient department) services, asserting that they would be only attending to emergency cases.

Lack of information on the data pertaining to corona cases in the district could likely cause an unclear understanding of the severity of the infection in the district among the public.

Meanwhile, pacifying the doctors the state government requested them to withdraw their strike and resume duty in full. After a meeting on Tuesday, deputy chief minister Dr Ashwath Narayan said that the government has agreed to certain demands made by the doctors, however, Karnataka State Government Medical Officers Association has decided to continue with the agitation till Friday September 18.

The DCM also maintained that the government has recognized the fact that doctors have worked for seven months without taking any break and assured that the government will make an effort to meet all their demands.