Deaths double in 30 days as Karnataka toll goes past 6,000-mark

BENGALURU: Covid-19 fatalities in Karnataka crossed the 6,000-mark, with deaths more than doubling in the past month. The state reported 104 deaths on Thursday, taking the total toll to 6,054. The state added more than 1,000 deaths in the last 10 days alone.

A health and family welfare department report showed fatalities stood at 4,810 on August 24 and was 2,594 on August 3, but has seen a 134% rise since then. The state’s current case fatality rate is 1.6%.
KV Trilok Chandra, officer in-charge of Covid Critical Care Support Unit, told TOI, “Analysis shows there is a delay in patients reporting infection. At least 75% of the dead had comorbidities and about 70-75% came to hospitals late. Elderly citizens with other health complications need to report early for us to reduce the number of deaths.”
As on Wednesday, 1,331 (or 22%) of the 5,950 dead were aged above 70 years, 1,715 (29%) between 61 and 70 years, 1,608 (27%) between 51 and 60 years and 879 (15%) between 41 and 50 years. There were 12 children below the age of 12, and 30 between 11 and 20 among those who succumbed to the virus.
“We have certainly seen an increase both in the number of cases and deaths in the past few days,” said Dr H Sudarshan Ballal, chairman, Manipal Hospitals. “We have to take see this in perspective of the total number of cases diagnosed and the corresponding fatality rate. It is possible that we have seen sicker patients but it would be difficult to extrapolate death rates in the past 10 days to future trends. This will have to be watched and analysed by health authorities. I do believe that we have a better understanding of the disease and a better treatment protocol now than a few months ago. Death rates should come down, especially in centres experienced in intensive care treatment of Covid patients.”