The State government has told the High Court of Karnataka that 668 prisoners lodged in 47 prisons have tested positive for COVID-19 as of September 18 and 585 of them have fully recovered from the infection after being treated at designated hospitals or care centres.
Also, the government said that 16,418 tests for COVID-19 were conducted for prisoners.
While 11,116 tests were conducted for those brought to prisons for the first time, 4,794 tests were conducted for the existing inmates, and 508 for prisoners who returned from parole, as of September 18.
The data was submitted before a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Ashok S. Kinagi during the hearing of a petition filed by Amol Kale, a prime accused in Gauri Lankesh murder case lodged at the central prison in Mysuru. The petitioner had sought various measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in…