E-Paper
Covid scare moves beyond K’taka capital
Bengaluru: Despite the exponential surge in Covid-19 cases in Karnataka, the focus of the state government has primarily been on the capital city of Bengaluru, from where a major chunk of the daily cases, 49
Bengaluru: Despite the exponential surge in Covid-19 cases in Karnataka, the focus of the state government has primarily been on the capital city of Bengaluru, from where a major chunk of the daily cases, 49.5% to be precise, are being reported in the second wave of the pandemic. However, it changed after the death of 24 Covid-19 patients at two hospitals in Chamarajanagar allegedly due to shortage of oxygen. Experts have alerted the government about a likely spike in other districts of the state by next week.
An initial trend of this change can be gauged from the statistics of Covid-19 cases in the state. An analysis of infections reported between April 27 and May 3 by the state Covid war room, shows that Bengaluru city does not even feature in the first three spots in terms of case positivity rate.
As per war room data, Mysuru district reported the highest positivity rate at 28.8%, followed by Tumkuru at 25.6% and Ballari at 25%. Bengaluru Urban with a positivity rate of 24.7% came in fourth place, while the state’s average was recorded at 20.9%.
Even in terms of case fatality rate (CFR), which is the number of deaths per 100 cases, several districts have surpassed Bengaluru. Haveri in north Karnataka reported the highest CFR of 2%, much higher than the state’s average of 0.6%. While Bengaluru city has a CFR of 0.5%, districts like Chamarajangara (1.8%), Ramanagara (1.4%), Chitradurga (1.3%) and Bidar (1.2%) have reported high CFR rates.
In terms of absolute numbers, however, no district in the state is anywhere closer to Bengaluru city. On Wednesday, Bengaluru Urban reported 168 deaths, while all other districts reported less than 50 deaths. The city also accounted for 23,706 new Covid-19 cases out of the total 49,058 reported from across the state on Thursday. The active caseload in Bengaluru and Karnataka stood at 332,732 and 517,075, respectively as on Thursday, according to the state health department.
Ashwin Mahesh, an urban expert said Bengaluru is still the biggest headache for the state government. “One out of every 35 people in Bengaluru currently has Covid. If you consider the active cases, which are mostly counted among adults, it could be as high as one in every 25 adults. This is our current situation, and we are not talking about people having had Covid at some time, but only the current cases,” he said.
Even though the absolute numbers make Bengaluru a bigger problem for the government, experts fear that unlike the city, most districts lack health infrastructure to handle a spike similar to what has been witnessed in Bengaluru.
“The expert committee has asked the government to increase the ICU and bed capacity in the vulnerable districts and increase the oxygen supply,” said Giridhar Babu, a member of the state’s Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) on Covid-19.
According to experts, an increase in infections across the state can be attributed to the exodus of people from Bengaluru to various parts of the state ahead of the statewide “closed down” announced on April 27.
Officials familiar with the development said that following a meeting with experts, chief minister BS Yediyurappa has been advised to extend the lockdown like restrictions in the state. Officials added that there are chances of a further extension of the lockdown, but the decision will be taken on May 10.
Experts also added that the government has been making some decisions lately despite the repeated advice from the TAC for a coordinated effort. “Recently, the government has decentralised the responsibilities for taking care of remdesivir, oxygen and beds to different ministers. The health minister has been stripped of several powers. We are not saying the health minister was doing a fantastic job, but a reshuffle of responsibilities during a crisis is not a wise decision. By the time these newly appointed ministers learn about the situation on the ground, we would have lost precious time,” said a member of the TAC on the condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, during a hearing on the deaths of 24 Covid-19 patients allegedly due to shortage of oxygen, the Karnataka high court on Wednesday directed the state’s chief secretary to seize all records related to oxygen supply from the offices of deputy commissioners of Chamarajanagar and Mysuru districts, and also from the Chamarajanagar district hospital.
The bench asked the chief secretary to keep all the documents in his safe custody till further orders of the court. It came after the deputy commissioners of the two districts were involved in a blame game over the deaths of 24 Covid-19 patients in Chamarajaganar. The Karnataka government on Wednesday appointed retired high court judge Justice B A Patil as the one-man commission to inquire into the Chamarajanagar incident.
