BENGALURU: On the day Karnataka reported 28,273 Covid cases, taking the tally to 31,53,247, Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar warned that several people are reporting symptoms and some have severe forms of the disease. He asked people not to be callous, to wear masks, get the second dose and booster dose if eligible.
With Friday’s cases, the positivity rate went up to 5.38 per cent, while the recovery rate declined to 94.29 per cent. On the plus side, the mortality rate went down to 1.21 per cent, even as 14 deaths took the toll to 38,411. Active cases surged to 1,41,337.
Ruling out another lockdown, Sudhakar said, “We have implemented lockdowns twice earlier. It does not help and only hurts common people’s livelihoods.” Only 5-6 percent of people are expected to be hospitalised, but if overall Covid cases increase, it could burden the health system. He added that nursing students testing positive is a cause for worry.
He said the ongoing third wave is expected to peak in the first week of February and reduce by third or fourth week. On Friday, Bengaluru contributed 20,121 cases, while the recovery rate went down to 90.84 per cent. The mortality rate reduced to 1.19 per cent. But active cases crossed the 1 lakh-mark, touching 1,09,312 cases.
Sudhakar said, “Weekend restrictions have been enforced from last week. We can’t expect the infection to reduce in seven days. In the first two waves, we needed at least 14 days to break the chain. The infection is spreading 5-6 times faster. We will get to see the result of the weekend curfew in the next few days.”