BENGALURU: With a comparative higher testing rate at 639/million population, Karnataka is faring way better than the national average but much like the national trend, the State has more asymptomatic cases. In all, 362 of the 503 COVID-19 cases in Karnataka are asymptomatic but the testing protocol is focused on symptomatic suspected cases and contacts of incumbent patients.
While the State had planned to deploy Rapid Antibody Testing Kits to test frontline workers including policemen, medical staff, civic workers and high-risk individuals, the Centre’s decision to suspend RTK testing has poured cold water over the plan. For now, Karnataka, much like the rest of the country, is only testing individuals with travel or contact history or those with history of SARI and ILI being referred by doctors.
Despite data demonstrating that the number of asymptomatic people who have tested positive are larger than those with symptoms, there is little change in the government’s approach to testing protocols. “We are testing all primary and secondary contacts of those tested positive. Karnataka’s testing numbers are among the best in the country. Once our unit at Kidwai Memorial Hospital becomes operational, we will be able to test some 1,000 samples in a single day there alone.
We are setting up a testing facility with a capacity to test 5,000 samples in a day at Mysuru Road,” said Dr K Sudhakar, Medical Education Minister. He added that in 10 days, the State will be able to test 10,000-12,000 samples in a day. Random testing, however, is not on the cards yet. Till Sunday evening, Karnataka had tested 42,964 samples and found only 503 positive. The positivity rate per 100 tests for Karnataka stands at 1% according to the State COVID-19 War Room analysis.
While the rate is very low compared to Maharashtra or Delhi at 8% and 7% respectively, the State is focused on targeted populations for sample collection and testing. Analysis of COVID-19 data by Prof Shamika Ravi, Senior Fellow at Brookings Institute and former Member of PM’s Economic Advisory Committee, showed on Sunday that Karnataka is witnessing a second wave of infections. In her tweet, she has also suggested that the recovery formula can only be containment, contact tracing and testing. “We will begin random testing of frontline workers but we are also conducting large-scale testing in places that report positive cases. Cases in Karnataka are increasing due to three clusters — Nanjangud, Tablighi Jamat and a migrant worker in Hongasandra of Bengaluru,” the minister said.