Despite ramping up COVID-19 testing by 65% from September 12 to October 10, active cases in Bengaluru have surged by nearly 59% (from 40,929 on September 12 to 64,911 on October 10). Bengaluru now has the highest number of active cases in the country surpassing Pune that has 45,871 cases as on Monday.
Mortality rate too has increased here by 39% from 2,391 deaths on September 12 to 3,320 on October 10.
During the same period, Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad have successfully reduced active cases.
The six mega cities in India —Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, and Kolkata — collectively saw a jump of 33.9 lakh tests in the last one month.
With 14.9 lakh tests during this period, Delhi contributed to 44% of the total tests in the six mega cities. Active cases in the national capital came down by 6,052 during this period.
Marginal reduction
Mumbai and Ahmedabad that tested 3.4 lakh and 4 lakh samples, respectively, during the same period also saw a marginal reduction in active cases. The active cases came down by 3,824 and 691 in Mumbai and Ahmedabad, respectively.
Bengaluru tested 7.7 lakh samples during this period and active cases shot up by 23,982. Prior to that, in 90 days — from July 1 to September 30 — active cases in Bengaluru had shot up by over 10 times from 4,649 to 47,145.
During the same period, while Chennai reduced active cases from 22,781 to 11,323, Mumbai brought down its active cases from 29,715 to 26,663, according to an analysis by Project: Jeevan Raksha, an initiative of Proxima, a management consulting firm, that is technically supported by Public Health Foundation of India and Indian Medical Association.
Mysore Sanjeev, convener of Jeevan Raksha, said Bengaluru’s performance in terms of COVID-19 management is relatively deteriorating over the last few weeks when compared with other mega cities.
“Despite testing 7.7 lakh samples during the last 30 days, the city’s Moving Growth Rate (MGR) of active cases as well as deaths is highest amongst all the six mega cities. This indicates that Bengaluru is having the shortest doubling period for both critical parameters. If the same pattern continues for another few weeks, we are worried more lives will be in danger,” he said.
‘Infections multiplying’
C.N. Manjunath, nodal officer for labs and testing in the State’s COVID-19 task force, said controlling the spread has become difficult as the infections are multiplying at community level.
“Most people would have had contact with an infected person, either primary or secondary. But they may not be aware if the source patient is asymptomatic. As a result, without their knowledge some people are further spreading the infection to others. Getting tested without any delay and availing timely treatment is most important. Those who need hospitalisation should be allotted beds without any delay,” he said.
“At 1.4% although our cumulative Case Fatality Rate (CFR) is reasonably under control, it is desirable to keep this below 1%,” Dr. Manjunath added. As on Monday, the State’s CFR stood at 0.92%.