Karnataka breaches 50k Covid-19 cases mark

BENGALURU: Karnataka and its capital Bengaluru broke several records in a single day, sending the State Government scurrying to salvage the Covid-19 situation from spinning out of control. The state witnessed the highest-ever daily spike of a whopping 4,169 positive cases, with Bengaluru alone accounting for 2,344 of these on Thursday. The state now ranks No. 4 in the country having the highest number of Covid-19 cases, and at No. 3 with the highest number of active cases after Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

In one big leap, the state crossed the 50,000-mark to reach 51,422 from its overnight tally of 47,253. Bengaluru, on its own crossed the 25,000-mark with a tally of 25,288 cases while recording the death toll at 507. Karnataka’s toll on Thursday crossed the 1,000-mark with a total 1,032 deaths, although the mortality rate is at 2 per cent. The state, also for the first time, recorded over a hundred deaths in a single day at 104, of which Bengaluru recorded the highest at 70.

The worrisome trend in the state’s Covid management strategy is the consistently dropping recovery rate — from 41.94 per cent on July 5 to 38.36 per cent on July 16 — and the steadily rising positivity rate (3.32 per cent to 5.55 per cent in the same period). With this scenario staring them in the face, ministers in charge of the Covid fight in the state capital got cracking on Thursday, ahead of their meeting with Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Friday, to review measures taken to contain the virus and ensure proper treatment to patients.

In what appeared to be a coordinated effort to identify and address shortcomings in the system, the ministers visited Covid Care Centres (CCC), designated hospitals, and held a series of meetings with officials and private hospital managements. While Deputy CM Dr C N Ashwath Narayan pulled up officials at the largest CCC on the Agricultural University GKVK Campus for overall mismanagement, Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar was furious at officials at the C V Raman Nagar hospital for not following guidelines. Ministers R Ashok, V Somanna and S T Somashekar too were in the thick of action, holding meetings with  officials.more  

A WORRYING SCENARIO 
Thirty of the 70 people who died in Bengaluru on Thursday had no comorbidities, although most of the casualties were SARI, ILI cases with fever, cough and breathlessness. Dakshina Kannada saw the second highest number of new patients with 238 cases, followed by Dharwad with 176, Vijayapura with 144, Mysuru with 130, Kalaburagi with 123, Udupi with 113 and Raichur with 101 cases. Dakshina Kannada also saw the second highest number of deaths at seven.