Karnataka health minister Dr K Sudhakar on Tuesday said the third Covid-19 wave has set in the state, and Bengaluru will be an epicentre this time. Sudhakar said the Covid-19 infections went up to 1.6% from a mere 0.4% in the state, of which 90% cases were reported in Bengaluru.
“What’s the present scenario? Isn’t it the third wave? For six months, Karnataka did not have 0.1% cases. If it has gone up to 1.6% on a single day, this is the beginning of the third wave,” Sudhakar said.
Karnataka logged 2,479 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, of which 2,053 are from Bengaluru. While the positivity rate increased to 2.59%, the state also witnessed four deaths. The state had on Monday recorded 1,290 infections, out of which 1,040 were reported in Bengaluru.
Over the last week, Karnataka, particularly Bengaluru, has been witnessing a surge in Covid-19 cases with daily cases crossing over the 1,000 marks in the state and in the city. The state has reported 149 new cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus. As of now, the state’s Omicron tally is 226, said the health minister.
The minister said since Bengaluru has an international airport and many people arrive in the city, which is why there’s a need to implement special measures.
{{/usCountry}}The minister said since Bengaluru has an international airport and many people arrive in the city, which is why there’s a need to implement special measures.
{{/usCountry}}“Bengaluru will become an epicentre. It was an epicentre in the first wave and second wave. It will be the epicentre during the third wave as well,” Sudhakar told reporters.
“If you look at the national figure, maximum cases are coming in the metropolitan cities. Almost 90% are in those cities. Hence, we are concentrating on Bengaluru with a focus on the formation of micro-containment zones and screening at the airport,” the minister added.
He further added, there are 43 lakh children in the state within the age group of 15 to 18 and the state government wants to vaccinate them all in 10 to 15 days.
“Yesterday (Monday), we vaccinated 4,22,252 children, though our target was 6.38 lakh. We could achieve 66% on the first day. We were in fourth place in the country in vaccinating teenagers. We want to increase the number of vaccinations,” he said.