BENGALURU: After continuing the streak of recording 6,000 plus cases daily, the State recorded the highest with 7,178 positive cases on Saturday. The total tally now stands at 1,72,102. The State also crossed its 3,000 mark after recording 93 new deaths. A total of 3,091 deaths have been reported until August 8.
Of the 7,178 positive cases, on Saturday, 2,665 were from Bengaluru Urban alone and this brings its tally to 72,237 cases. SARI and ILI cases continue to contribute to the death of the patients, along with co-morbidities. So far, over 15,781 ILI cases have been recorded and 3,346 SARI cases. The highest number of deaths occurred are of those above the 60 years age group at 1,428.
Even though the State Covid fatality rate has come down, the deaths have been 80 plus on a daily basis. And now with BBMP having assigned booth level task officers to check on co-morbid persons and isolate them and also continuing follow-up checks once in 10 days, might help in keeping a tab on the vulnerable population.
According to Dr Shashikiran Umakanth, Professor and head, Department of Medicine, and nodal officer for Covid-19 at Dr TMA Pai Hospital, Udupi, the number of cases will eventually go up. Nearly 50 to 70 per cent of the population will get infected but the problem is that not everyone can be tested. “It is better to accept that community transmission has happened and then work around it.
There are many asymptomatic patients who might be spreading it and hence the transmission cycle is getting stronger. Only encouraging group behaviours can help in this situation,” he said. Amongst the districts, Bengaluru Urban has been recording a high number of cases. However, in terms of the positivity rate for the past 15 days, the district with the highest percentage is Bengaluru Rural with 22.7%, followed by Ballari with 22% and Bengaluru Urban with 21.3%. The State also reported a high number of discharges crossing the 5,000 mark with 5,006, taking the and the total discharges are 89,238.