Karnataka’s Active Cases Account for Record 61.49% of Total Cases

After Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, Karnataka on Friday has become the third state in the country to have more than 50,000 Covid-19 active cases. On Friday, the state registered 5,007 new cases of COVID-19 and a record 110 related fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 85,870 and the death toll to 1,724.

Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, the two states that have maximum number Covid-19 cases, crossed the 50,000 mark in terms of active cases when the total numbers of cases reported were more than one lakh each, on June 13 and July 19 respectively. Interestingly, Karnataka had reported only 85,870 as of Friday evening and 61.49% or 52,799 cases of the total are active at present.

Going by the data, Karnataka had somehow managed to contain the virus significantly till the May second week. On May 15, the number of active cases was 540 but the cumulative number rose after that. On June 15, the number of active cases was 2,989.

After June, however, the rise in the number of cases in Karnataka has been exponential. The number of active cases as of June 24 was 3,803. On July 24, it had risen to 52,799. 

According to Giridhara Babu, a member of the ICMR task force on research and surveillance and Karnataka Covid task force, “The dip in the pace of recovery indicates an increase in the rate of acute cases which need medical intervention and take longer to recover.”

"Covid cases are expected to rise. However, the recovery rate has also improved significantly over the months. Also, one of the most important things that needs to be taken into consideration is focusing on stopping cross infection in hospitals by separating Covid and non-Covid patients which is often difficult for small and medium size hospitals. However, COVID patients should be isolated strictly. There should be separate staff and COVID ward with no interaction whatsoever with the COVID section. Also, it has been found in several studies that there is a possibility of Covid transmission through faecal particles via common toilet. So Covid and non-Covid patients should have separate toilets at home and hospital,” said Dr Suriraju V, chief consultant urology and MD Regal hospital. 

A total of 11,10,497 samples have been tested so far in the state, out of which 29,819 were tested on Friday alone. According to the Health Department bulletin,7,411 of the 29,819 samples examined on Friday were using rapid antigen tests. As of July 24 evening, cumulatively 85,870 COVID-19 positive cases had been confirmed in the state, which included 1,724 deaths and 31,347 discharged cases.

Out of 52,791 active cases, 52,180 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 611 are in the ICUs. Of the 110 deaths on Friday, 50 were from Bengaluru urban, followed by six each from Mysuru and Dakshina Kannada, five each from Dharwad, Kalaburagi, Tumakuru, three each from Udupi, Chikkaballapura, Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru and Chitradurga, two each from Ballari, Hassan, Gadag, Davangere, Koppala and Bengaluru rural, and one each from Belagavi, Raichur, Uttara Kannada, Haveri, Kolara and Chamarajanagar.

Most of those who died had either a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) or Influenza-like illness (ILI), according to the bulletin. Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Bengaluru urban accounted for 2,267, followed by Mysuru 281, Udupi 190, Bagalkot 184, Dakshina Kannada 180, Dharwad 174, Kalaburagi 159, Vijayapura 158, Ballari 136, Hassan 118, Belagavi 116, Gadag 108, Raichur 107 and others.

Bengaluru urban district tops the list of positive cases, with 41,467 infections, followed by Dakshina Kannada 4,389 and Kalaburagi 3,529. 

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