E-Paper
Govt issues new curbs as 2nd wave of Covid surges in city
Bengaluru: At the beginning of the year, Bengaluru was heaving a sigh of relief with coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases in the city showing a downward trend
Bengaluru:
At the beginning of the year, Bengaluru was heaving a sigh of relief with coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases in the city showing a downward trend. Today, the city finds itself in the midst of a surging second wave.
The city that recorded 12,467 active Covid-19 cases on an average through December 2020, recorded only 7,085 on January 1. Since then, the downward trend continued and on February 26, Bengaluru reported its lowest number of active cases at 3,754. However, between February 24 and March 24, the city has seen a 163% jump in the number of active cases.
According to data from the health ministry, Bengaluru Urban (as the district is called) features among the 10 districts in the country with the highest number of active Covid-19 cases.
Karnataka health minister K Sudhakar said the second wave of the Covid-19 has begun in the state. “We are at the beginning of the second wave of coronavirus. The next three months are crucial for us. The technical advisory committee on coronavirus has given clear guidelines to the government stating that people will be in trouble if certain activities are not controlled. The new guidelines for the city are part of our efforts to control the spread of the virus,” he said.
In December 2020, Bengaluru reported an average of 601 daily new Covid-19 cases. The number dropped to 338 in January and 241 in February. However, by March 24, the number was up to 601 once again.
On Thursday, Bengaluru accounted for 1,623 of the new Covid-19 cases of the 2,523 reported from across the state, according to the state health department’s daily bulletin.. Meanwhile, the daily positivity rate rose to 2.32% with over 1.08 lakh samples being tested in the previous 24 hours.
Dr V Ravi, senior professor and head of the department of Neurovirology at NIMHANS and member of the technical advisory committee on Covid-19 in Karnataka, said the government’s efforts to proactively trace contacts and get them tested had reduced in the past few months. He added that even though hospitals were better equipped to deal with the surge, the lack of efforts in the contact tracing has impacted the city adversely.
A senior Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) official cited the lack of cooperation from the people as a big problem. “Compliance when it comes to wearing masks has reduced drastically. There was a time when people of Bengaluru were adhering to social distancing and wearing masks. We saw the results. But we are now attending large events and gathering in public places without precaution. There is only so much that the government can do,” the official said on the condition of anonymity.
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