After reporting over 2,000 cases during the last two days, Karnataka on Thursday recorded 2,523 new cases of COVID-19, taking the total to 9,78,478. Of these, 1,623 cases are from Bengaluru Urban.
With 10 deaths, the toll rose to 12,471. This is apart from 19 deaths of patients due to non-COVID-19 reasons.
As many as 1,192 persons were discharged on Thursday, taking the total recoveries to 9,47,781. Of the remaining 18,207 active patients, 150 are being monitored in ICUs. While the positivity rate for the day stood at 2.32%, the Case Fatality Rate (CFR) touched 0.39%.
As many as 1,08,396 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, including 1,01,982 RT-PCR tests. With this, the total number of tests rose to 2,07,82,529.
Health and Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar, who on Thursday visited some government hospitals in the city to check the preparedness, said 400 beds have been reserved for COVID-19 patients in Victoria hospital.
“We will further increase the number of beds if required. Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases (RGICD), Bowring and Lady Curzon hospital and Charaka hospital will also be utilized for COVID-19 treatment if required. We have also spoken to private hospitals to be on stand by. Although the case load is not as huge as it was in the beginning, they have to be ready,” the Minister said.
Vaccination
With the Centre opening up vaccination for all above 45 years from April 1, officials said the State can maintain the current pace of vaccination only if the vaccine supply is regular.
“It has been possible to vaccinate over two lakh people on a day in the last fortnight only because we had adequate stocks. We can maintain the same pace and even increase the number of vaccinations a day from April 1 only if the supply is constant,” said a top official.
The State early on Thursday morning received four lakh doses of Covishield and 12 lakh more are expected in the next one week. Of the 38.85 lakh doses received so far, the State has till Thursday used up 30.90 lakh doses.
Jawaid Akhtar, Additional Chief Secretary (Health and Family Welfare), said the Centre has assured States of regular supply as per their coverage and vaccine availability. “We are hoping we can ramp up the daily vaccinations in the next phase. We have all infrastructure in place and we will further increase the number of vaccination centres and session sites. We are ready for the next phase,” he said.
Meanwhile, as many as 15,02,605 senior citizens have been vaccinated in the State since March 1, when the second phase of vaccination was rolled out. That apart, 4,30,017 persons above the age of 45 with comorbidities have been vaccinated so far.
On Wednesday, 51,156 senior citizens and 21,308 people above 45 years with comorbidities took the vaccine till 7.30 pm.
