BENGALURU: The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), at its meeting on Saturday, warned the State government that the third wave is forecast for October-November in Karnataka, and stringent enforcement of recently issued guidelines, including during festivals, have to be followed.
“It will be a mess otherwise. Enforcement of guidelines is very important at this stage. Karnataka is seeing a downward slide in cases, but if we let down our guard, festival gatherings and political events can definitely bring the third wave into the state,” said an expert from the committee.
The TAC, in its report, said the central health ministry has warned state governments to take suitable measures to avoid large gatherings during the festive season and also impose local restrictions to curb large gatherings.
“The total active caseload in the state is about 16,000, TPR 0.68% and CFR 1.55% (on September 3). In the current context of the ongoing second wave in the state at a low level (1,200 to 1,500 cases daily), door-to-door activities and large public gatherings lasting hours are conducive to spread the highly infectious Delta variant of SARS CoV-2 virus. The gains made so far from the hard efforts of containment of the second wave from March 2021 till date, should not be frittered away,” the committee report warns.
The TAC also said that September is conducive to respiratory infections due to rain and cold weather in many parts, and the Delta variant, which is very infectious and undergoing mutations, is also causing breakthrough infections in vaccinated people. The report warns that “during the last one month there have been reports of clusters mostly from nursing hostels and some apartments in Mangaluru, Bengaluru, Kolar, Mysuru and other places. A similar scenario occurred in March-April 2021, that subsequently led to the second wave of Covid-19”.
Meanwhile, a senior doctor on the committee told TNSE that the bad experience of the second wave in April-May 2021, and cases surging in Kerala after Onam, should come as a warning. “We have seen the situation in April-May. The state may find it difficult to manage a large number of cases and patients in hospitals scrambling for beds, oxygen, Remdesivir etc, if there is a sudden huge surge. It is better to be wary,” the doctor said.