Amid rising Covid cases, Karnataka’s technical advisory committee suggests ramping up testing

BENGALURU: With more people showing Covid-19 symptoms and the infection trajectory in Bengaluru slowly rising again, the state’s technical advisory committee (TAC) has suggested that districts outside the state capital should cumulatively test at least 10,000 people a day.
At present, Bengaluru conducts around 17,000 tests daily, while the remaining districts collectively conduct 5,000-6,000 tests.
The recommendation comes after the Union government noted that not enough tests are being conducted in the districts. Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan, in a recent letter to the state, emphasised the need for ramping up testing in the backdrop of the surge in Covid cases in some states.
In Karnataka, total active cases crossed the 7,000-mark on Tuesday, with around 6,900 cases from Bengaluru. The other districts, which were reporting zero cases a few weeks ago, have started witnessing positive cases. Four districts — Dharwad, Hassan, Mysuru, and Tumakuru — reported over 10 cases on Tuesday. “We can get a clear picture about the spread only if more tests are done in the districts,” a health department official admitted, while saying around 20 districts have been conducting less than 500 tests a day.
In fact, Bhushan’s letter reads: “The state needs to ensure adequate testing is undertaken in all districts of the state while maintaining the recommended share of RT-PCR and antigen tests. The state must also closely monitor districts reporting higher cases, positivity rates and clusters to gauge the true level of the infection and control any emerging spread.”
Meanwhile, what has left the state authorities baffled is the rise in positivity rate in several districts. According to the state Covid war room, eight districts have seen a positivity rate of more than 5%. In fact, Vijayapura, which does less tests per day, reported a positivity rate of 22% on Monday. Bengaluru city has been reporting a positivity rate of 7.5% despite conducting around 17,000 tests daily.
TAC chairman Dr MK Sudarshan attributed Covid incidence in Bengaluru to the city being a hub of industry, commerce, education, business travel and tourism, with a high density of population with good testing, reporting and follow-up. However, he said the rise in cases is intermittently seen in some districts like Mysuru, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Dharwad and Belagavi which have inter-state travel for educational and business purposes. “The TAC has recommended to the government of Karnataka to ramp up testing..,” he said.