K’taka govt draws plan to tackle Covid spike in rural areas

The Karnataka government on Sunday proposed to do away with home isolation of asymptomatic Covid-19 persons and house them in Covid-19 care centres in all districts, as rural areas witness a shape spike in Covid-19 cases

The Karnataka government on Sunday proposed to do away with home isolation of asymptomatic Covid-19 persons and house them in Covid-19 care centres in all districts, as rural areas witness a shape spike in Covid-19 cases. The strategy helped the state government tackle the pandemic, albeit temporarily, last year.

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“Suppose the cases are very less here (Bengaluru), we can move our oxygen concentrators to other districts. Whatever can be moved will be moved. If the bed situation (shortage) happens, then we have to shift patients only,” the official said, requesting not to be named. However, the official clarified that this was only a theoretical suggestion as the infrastructure in these rural areas were being strengthened.

There were 963 new infections in Chikmagaluru, 453 in Gadag, 617 in Koppal, 464 in Raichur, 643 in Shivamogga, according to the bulletin on Sunday.

A senior government official said that any resources that can be moved will be moved to these districts from Bengaluru.

The move comes as part of the state government’s preparation for the shift of the surge towards rural areas, where healthcare infrastructure is far more inadequate when compared to Bengaluru. This would mean creating additional infrastructure in a state which is centered around its capital with most of its income and expenditure on Bengaluru, leaving little for the other districts.

“From 1,970 oxygenated beds, we have increased it to 24,000 oxygenated beds across the state. Half the beds in taluka hospitals are oxygenated and in three months time all these units will have oxygen generation units,” the first official mentioned above added.

“Already we have established 15 Covid-19 care centres with 1200 beds. The capacity can be increased to around 1800. We are trying to shift people from home isolation including those who are not complying with the provision,” said MR Ravi, the deputy commissioner for Chamarajanagar district, about 175 kms from Bengaluru. Apart from the 24 people who died on May 2, another 62 patients died at the hospital between May 4 and May 10 – at least 36 of whom were admitted at the hospital on May 2 night, when the oxygen supply was disrupted for several hours, Hindustan Times reported on Saturday.

Basavaraj Bommai, Karnataka’s minister for home, law and parliamentary affairs too has converted his home in Shiggaon, Haveri district as a 50-bed Covid-19 care centre to help increase capacities in the backward district. The district recorded 184 cases on Sunday.

Karnataka continues to grapple with supplies of oxygen, life-saving medication, hospital beds and even space in crematoriums,

However, the situation in Bengaluru is still grim and shifting of resources at the moment may appear bleak since it continues to record an average of around 15,000 cases per day, which may be lower than its own peak, but still far higher than all the other districts of the state put together.

Bengaluru has seen a sharp decline in cases over the last week or so as it reported 8,344 new infections, giving some signs of letting up after being firmly in the grip of the pandemic since the beginning of March this year. The city’s positivity rate had nearly touched 40% between April 30 and May 6, according to data from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP, the city’s civic body).

Officials said that places like Bidar, Kalaburagi and Mysuru among others will also see a decline as they peaked earlier.

Bengaluru accounted for 143 fatalities n 24 hours on Sunday, while all other districts have seen a rise in deaths, data shows, indicating how the Covid-19’s second wave was claiming more lives, largely due to inadequate healthcare and crumbling infrastructure.

With 600147 active cases on Sunday, Karnataka has highest case load in the country, according to data.

Karnataka recorded 31, 531 new infections in the 24 hours on Saturday with a positivity rate of 27.84%. The state recorded 403 fatalities, according to the daily bulletin of the state health department.