Migrants from Maharashtra give Karnataka single biggest day Covid-19 spike

Karnataka on Monday decided to not allow people from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat till May 31

Karnataka recorded its single biggest day spike in Covid-19 cases with 149 new patients being quarantined. 113 of the 149 new cases have a history of interstate travel with most of them carrying the dreaded virus from Maharashtra to the interiors in Karnataka. For instance, Mandy alone reported 71 new cases today and all of them were returnees from Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Stranded people gather at Palace Grounds to board buses to reach Malur and Chikkabanavara Railway Station to go to their native place during the Covid-19 lockdown in Bengaluru on Tuesday. (ANI Photo) (ANI Photo)

The education minister of Karnataka Suresh Kumar, while pointing finger at the migrants who had come back from other states for the spike in the number of cases said, “These cases, unfortunately, don’t have any certificate, so they have not gone through any testing before coming.”

The minister pointed out that it was in this context that the Karnataka government on Monday decided to restrict entry of people coming from Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu at least till May 31.

In spite of the large spike, Suresh Kumar pointed out that Karnataka “is at number 12 in the country in the number of cases.”

The state, till now, has 1,395 positive cases registered including 40 deaths and 543 recoveries. Responding to another question on the ability of the state to handle a further increase in the number of cases, the minister said: “Our current bed occupancy rate is 6.09 per cent and fatality rate at 2.8 per cent.”

While Karnataka currently has 46 testing labs-- 28 government and 18 private – together capable of testing 8,000 cases per day, it is aiming to increase the capacity to 60 testing facilities by the end of May to be able to test 10,000 people a day.

Meanwhile life returned to almost normal in most parts of the state with traffic jams being witnessed in several major cities of the state including capital Bengaluru. Tickets on some inter-district buses like Shivamogga to Bengaluru were sold out in minutes with KSRTC assuring to beef up its services further. Except for shopping malls, theatres and restaurants, most other commercial establishments have restarted operations.