Karnataka’s Covid deaths on decline

BENGALURU: An analysis of moving growth rate (MGR) of Covid deaths of Week 1, from May 5 to 12, and Week4, from June 2 to 9, showed that Karnataka has done well as compared to Kerala, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Covid deaths showed a -35% fall in Karnataka during the period.

The analysis, done by Jeevan Raksha, revealed that cases recorded in Karnataka between May 5 and 12 were 3,484 and between June 2 and 9, the deaths came down 2,274. During the same period, Kerala recorded 488 deaths in the first week and 1,214 deaths in the fourth week, an increase of 149 per cent in MGR. In Tamil Nadu, 1,692 deaths were reported in the first week and 2,965 in the fourth week, recording a 75 per cent increase in MGR. Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra too showed a dip in MGR, at -8% and -5% respectively. However, the dip in Karnataka was bigger.

Lower MGR indicates longer doubling period or decrease in daily average number and a sign of recovery.
Positive cases too showed a dip during the period in Karnataka. Between May 5 and 12, the positive cases were 3,12,145, while they fell to 93,125 between June 2 and 9, reducing the MGR by -70%.

Karnataka conducted 10,02,001 tests during Week 1 and 10,27,082 during Week 4, a slight increase of 3 per cent. Kerala fell by -22 per cent, Maharashtra -6 per cent and Andhra Pradesh by -10 per cent. Tamil Nadu saw a 14 per cent increase in number of tests, but the toll increased from 1,692 to 2,965.

Sanjeev Mysore of Jeevan Raksha said, “The hard work of Karnataka administration is showing some positive signs. As compared to other southern states (TN, Kerala and AP), Karnataka has delivered better performance in reducing the weekly death toll by over 35 per cent. This could be largely attributed to improvement in testing. It sustained over one million tests per week during the period. This helped the State to trace infected people and isolate them, reducing the virus spread. This has led to reduced weekly deaths.”