BENGALURU: In just 10 days, from October 21 to 31, active Covid-19 cases have dropped by almost half in the state. On October 21, the state’s active cases were 1,00,440 and on October 31, the number dropped to 50,592.
An increase in the number of tests and tracing all the primary and secondary contacts of patients at the earliest, with immediate treatment and strict enforcement has helped bring down the cases. On Saturday, the state recorded 3,652 new cases and the tally now stands at 8,27,064. In all, 24 new Covid deaths and 8,053 discharges were reported.
The state’s recovery rate has been steadily increasing. On July 28, it was 35.29 per cent, and as of October 31, it stands at 92.52 per cent. For the 18th consecutive day, Karnataka has seen a higher number of discharges than the positive cases reported.
In Bengaluru, though the cases have dropped from 4,000 and above to 2,000 plus, it still reports half of Karnataka’s cases. On Saturday, Bengaluru’s cases were 2,167, which constituted 59.33 per cent of Karnataka’s cases. However, Bengaluru’s recovery rate has improved to 89.82 per cent.
Dr Pradeep Rangappa, Consultant Intensive Care Physician, Columbia Asia Hospitals, and member of the state Critical Care Support Team (CCST), attributed the high number of cases in Bengaluru to the density of population. “Bengaluru is more populous than other districts.
And if we look at all-India figures, it is the metros like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru which contribute more cases, being more populous. However, what needs to be done is to follow Japan’s way, they avoided the 3 Cs — close contact, closed spaces, crowded places — which brought down their cases at the earliest. In Bengaluru, avoiding closed spaces is not much focussed on. All the social norms need to be looked into.”