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Karnataka health minister warns of fourth Covid wave by June
Speaking to reporters, Karnataka health minister Sudhakar said the report submitted by IIT-Kanpur about the last three Covid waves was by and large accurate, and the current report too is based on scientific data, and may turn out to be accurate.
The Karnataka government on Tuesday said that the fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to hit the state by the end of June and is expected to continue till even October, raising fears of a resurgence of the virus and the restrictions that accompanies a spike in cases.
“All the data and reports so far have been provided by IIT-Kanpur. They have said that it would be around June end. Almost a month ago it started but the peak will come after June and can stay till September, and October. Their predictions have been more or less true for the earlier three waves,” Dr K Sudhakar, Karnataka’s minister for health, family welfare and medical education, said on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters here, he said the report submitted by them about the last three waves was by and large accurate, and the current report too is based on scientific data, and may turn out to be accurate.
“It is two years since the Covid began and we have complete information regarding it. We will also have to lead our lives, we are not in a position to say that Covid will completely vanish from the world, so we have to learn to live with it by following measures like vaccination, wearing masks and maintaining social distance. We have done it in the past too,” he added.
Asked whether the state is amidst the fourth wave of Covid, the Minister said, the cases are very less compared to other states, so it will be inappropriate to say that as of now.
Noting that the prevalent variant is said to be Omicron’s sublineages, he said, INSACOG lab is likely to give an official report in a couple of days and information can be shared only then.
Amid fresh Covid-19 concerns in different parts of the country and apprehensions of a possible fourth wave of the pandemic, the Karnataka government had issued guidelines making wearing of face-masks and maintaining social distancing compulsory.
Referring to the rise in number of cases in the country in the last one week, Sudhakar said situation in all the states will be analysed at the PM’s meeting with chief ministers of all the states via video conferencing tomorrow and discussion will take place on precautionary measures that need to be taken.
He said the country could manage the third wave of Covid with not many fatalities or hospitalisations due to vaccination programme undertaken by the government.
Advising that those who have not taken the second dose and those eligible for the precautionary dose of COVID vaccination, to get vaccinated immediately and not to wait for the next wave of the pandemic, the Minister said there is enough stock of vaccines available in the state.
Queried whether precautionary doses will be administered freely to all, like the first and second dose vaccination, he said, “let’s see what discussion takes place during the Prime Minister’s meeting tomorrow....we will have to analyse whether one dose vaccination has to be administered per year. The Centre and the state will take a decision keeping in mind all aspects.”First dose vaccination coverage in Karnataka is about 105 percent, while it is more 98 percent for second dose, which means 10-12 lakh people are yet to take the second dose. About 55 percent people have taken the precautionary dose that is being administered freely to those above 60 years of age.
Sudhakar urged parents to get their children above 12-years of age inoculated on priority, which is being administered by the government free of cost.
The state on Tuesday reported 85 new Covid cases, taking the active caseload to 1,686, according to the daily bulletin of the state health department.
The positivity rate stood at 1.18% during the 24-hour-period and the weekly average stood at 1.04%, according to the government.
However, the total number of tests has come down to 7,177, of which 4,642 were RT-PCR.
Bengaluru urban, which includes the city, accounted for 82 out of the 85 cases reported in Karnataka, data showed. Bengaluru, which has relaxed most restrictions with even offices reopening, accounts for 1,626 of all active cases in the state.
Karnataka has so far administered over 53.9 million first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine and 5.02 million second doses, according to the Cowin dashboard. The state has also administered 1.6 million booster doses, data showed.
With PTI inputs
