Bengaluru: Even as Karnataka has been under a lockdown for the past three weeks, the state is yet to witness a significant decline in the number of new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases. According to experts, the marginal drop in daily new cases was mainly due to decrease in the number of tests the state has been conducting in the past few weeks.
In the wake of surging Covid-19 cases, Karnataka on April 27 went into a lockdown, which will continue till May 24. On May 1, the state had reported 44,438 new Covid-19 cases, which increased to 50,112 on May 5. The state logged 41,664 new infections on May 15, according to the health department.
Karnataka has seen a drop in the number of tests being conducted every day from 177,982 on May 1 to 118,345 on by May 15, according to state health department data.
The state government, which is now considering an extension of the lockdown in the state, cited Bengaluru’s numbers to highlight that the lockdown has been effective. Bengaluru on May 1 reported 19,533 new Covid cases, which came down to 13,402 on May 15. In fact, on May 16, the cases in Bengaluru dropped to as low as 8,344, the first time it logged below-10,000 tally since April 16, when the city had reported 9,917 cases.
Karnataka revenue minister R Ashok on Monday evening said a cabinet meeting will be chaired by chief minister BS Yediyurappa three days before the lockdown comes to an end to decide the future course of action. “In my personal opinion, it will be good to extend the lockdown. You have seen that in Bengaluru, there were around 22,000 cases per day, it has come down to 8,000,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Karnataka revenue minister R Ashok on Monday evening said a cabinet meeting will be chaired by chief minister BS Yediyurappa three days before the lockdown comes to an end to decide the future course of action. “In my personal opinion, it will be good to extend the lockdown. You have seen that in Bengaluru, there were around 22,000 cases per day, it has come down to 8,000,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}A senior BBMP official, who did not wish to be named, said, “There is a steady decrease in the number of cases in Bengaluru. Compared to the initial days of the lockdown, the city is reporting at least 5,000 fewer new Covid cases. This is a promising sign, and the number of distress calls for beds has also come down since the lockdown has begun. As per our assessment, the lockdown should be extended.”
However, even in Bengaluru, the number of tests has come down. In the first few days of May, the city was conducting an average of 56,143 tests per day, which came down to 52,782 between May 6 and May 10. The number further dropped to 44,014 tests per day between May 11 and May 15. On May 16 when Bengaluru reported only 8,344 new infections, the city had conducted only 42,642 tests, compared to 62,004 on May 1.
Meanwhile, state and city officials defended the decrease in number of Covid-19 tests, citing the change in the testing policy. “As per the new guidelines, we are only testing symptomatic cases,” the BBMP official cited above said.
According to the health department, Karnataka reported 38,603 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, taking the active caseload to 603,639. Bengaluru accounted for 13,338 new cases, which pushed its active caseload to 364,382. The state and its capital reported 476 and 239 deaths due to Covid-19 on Monday, taking the toll to 22,131 and 9,722, respectively.
While Bengaluru continued to account for bulk of the new cases and fatalities, the surging numbers in other districts have become a concern, officials said. On Monday, Ballari reported 2,322 new cases and 17 deaths, Uttara Kannada 1,288 cases and 15 deaths and Hassan reported 2,324 new infections and 29 deaths, indicating a sharp rise in the number of cases in the state.
A member of the state’s Technical Advisory Committee on Covid-19, on the condition of anonymity, said it was too early to consider the lockdown a success. “The reduction in the number of cases is also because of the reduction in the number of tests. The test positivity rate in the state still remains the same. This is not a good sign. The government should extend the lockdown and use that time to increase testing and if need be, go to home to home testing,” he said.
Amid talks about extending the lockdown in Karnataka as the state battles the second wave of Covid-19, Janata Dal (Secular) leader H D Kumaraswamy on Monday told the government that it should be “pro bono”, where economic and food relief to the needy is taken care of. Noting that lockdown is a step towards saving lives, livelihood should also be taken care of, Kumaraswamy said in a series of tweets. He also accused the Centre of leaving the responsibility of announcing the lockdown on the state and washing its hands-off, as it would have to provide relief to the people if such announcements are made.
“There are reports that the state government is mulling extending the lockdown. If at all it is extended it should be pro bono. The extended lockdown should take care of providing economic and food relief. At the all-party meeting too what we had suggested was a lockdown with an intention of public good,” the former chief minister tweeted.