Reason to smile? Recovery up, mortality down

Karnataka’s caseload once again went through the 6,000-mark on Friday, as 6,670 Covid-19 positive cases were added to the State’s tally, which now stands at 1,64,924.

(L-R) A boy gives his swab sample at a BBMP fever clinic in Bengaluru on Friday;

BENGALURU: Karnataka’s caseload once again went through the 6,000-mark on Friday, as 6,670 Covid-19 positive cases were added to the State’s tally, which now stands at 1,64,924. The number of discharged patients too dropped to 3,951, after five days of a high number of discharges. 

The recovery rate is continuously improving, and stands at 51.07 per cent on Friday. Karnataka saw over 4,000 discharges daily on August 2 and 3, a record 6,777 discharges on August 4, and over 5,000 discharges on August 5 and 6. The total number of discharged patients in Karnataka is now 84,232.

The number of active cases, too, increased from 75,068 on Thursday to 77,686, but the state remains at third position after Maharashtra (1,45,582 active cases) and Andhra Pradesh (84,654), after briefly touching second position.

Health workers outside a Covid Care Centre in Bengaluru |  Meghana Sastry

Karnataka’s positivity rate -- the number of patients testing positive per 100 tests -- has been consistently rising over the past month. It is now 10.15, up from 3.32 on July 5. The state’s mortality rate, however, continues to drop and now stands at 1.81 per cent. An addition of 101 deaths took the State’s Covid-19 death toll to 2,998, with 22 alone added by Bengaluru Urban, whose death toll is 1,200 — which is 40.02 per cent of the State’s toll.

In Bengaluru, 2,147 additional cases were recorded, with the total number of discharged patients at 35,063, and total number of active cases at 33,308. After Bengaluru Urban, districts with big caseloads are Ballari (686), Belagavi (390), Kalaburgi (271), Dharwad (266), Udupi (246) and Mysuru (242).Bengaluru Urban has been doing well with recovery rate at 50.3 per cent, and had dropped last month to 30 per cent. However, Bengaluru Urban’s positivity rate stands at 22.2 per cent, the second highest after Bengaluru Rural at 22.8 per cent.

The number of Covid tests conducted daily in the past three days has increased, with the state conducting more than 40,000 tests. On August 3, it was 42,458, on August 5 it was 43,638 and on August 6 was 48,421. On Friday, it was 43,553. This places Karnataka at eighth position in terms of tests per million, with Delhi topping the list with 66,872 cases, while Karnataka is 25,864.