The COVID-19 virus is spreading rapidly during the third wave of the pandemic, with cases doubling every two days or so. In the first wave, it took around 10-12 days, while the doubling time was eight days during the second wave.
But in the third wave, cases are doubling every two or two-and-a-half days, said Health and Family Welfare Minister K. Sudhakar on Thursday.
Dr. Sudhakar pointed out that between January 1 and 11, there were 62,641 active cases across Karnataka. Around 6% of the people who tested positive were hospitalised, while 1% were in COVID Care Centres. The remaining 93% were in home isolation, said the Minister.
For comparison, he presented the caseload on December 28, 2021, when Karnataka reported 356 cases, of which 269 were in Bengaluru.
“By January 5, we had 3,605 cases in Bengaluru and 641 in the rest of the State. On January 11, we had 10,800 cases in Bengaluru alone and 3,673 in the rest of the State,” he said.
Within a fortnight, the cases increased by 32.64% in Bengaluru Urban, 32.65% in BBMP, and 36.44% in the State.
Increase testing
Explaining the plan of action, Dr. Sudhakar said that currently at least 2 lakh samples are tested every day.
“We will increase it further. There are around 265 labs operational in the State and nine genomic labs. We have a capacity to sequence 1,875 samples in one batch,” the Minister said.
Amidst fears of children contracting COVID-19, 30% of the beds in district and taluk hospitals have been reserved for children with COVID-19. The Indira Gandhi Institute Of Child Health is the designated hospital for paediatric care.