Karnataka one of 5 states with highest Covid cases

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KEY STORY

  • Karnataka is one of five states which together constitute 82% of new cases registered across the country on Saturday, even as the state has ramped up the number of vaccination centres to speed up immunisation from Monday.
  • Karnataka stands fourth with 677 new cases on Saturday,. Other states include Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab and Tamil Nadu.
  • The state has announced that Covid norms must be strictly followed and that pandemic management must get back to “Test-Track-Treat” and has directed health staff to focus on SARI and ILI cases.
  • With Karntaka showing an increase in new cases on a week-on-week basis after being warned by the State Covid Technical Advisory Committee and the Central government team, Karntaka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said that chances of a second wave are very high in the state.
  • “People cannot afford to behave like the pandemic is over,” Dr Sudhakar said. “As per Central Health Ministry experts and our technical advisory committee, the rise in cases has been observed in many states and Karnataka is one of them.
  • The rise in other states and countries is a hint that reinfections might crop up again. Hence, we have to go back not only to the test-track-and-treat formula, but also ensure that crowding does not occur at events,” he said.
  • The central panel, which recently visited the state, also said that states must refocus on surveillance and stringent containment of areas that have clusters and must carry out an average close contact tracing of a minimum of 20 people per positive case.
  • During a recent video conference, BBMP Commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad told Special Commissioners and zonal health officers that the number of cases has been increasing, especially in the past month and mainly on the outskirts of BBMP limits.
  • “Take necessary precautions. Ensure strict implementation of rules and control the increase. As before, track all SARI and ILI cases from our database and conduct RT-PCR tests to rule out Covid-19,” he said.

CONCLUSION

  • Karnataka saw 522 cases on Febraury 1 and the number seemed to be stagnant for sometime. But on March 6, the number of cases jumped to 677. Taking note of this, the Central Health Ministry has told the state to increase testing which it has reduced significantly.
  • “While the positivity rate has increased, poor contact tracing and low share of RT-PCR tests can pose high risk of transmission to neighbouring states,” the central health ministry noted. States have also been asked to watch out for super-spreader events and share best practices to break the chain of transmission.

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