BENGALURU: It will soon be one year of the Covid pandemic, but the case fatality rate (CFR) in the state has still not dropped below 1 per cent, which was the aim of the Karnataka government. The first Covid death in the state and country was on March 12, 2020, and since November 6, the CFR has not increased or decreased. It has remained constant at 1.3 per cent.
Dr Pradeep Rangappa, consultant, Intensive Care Unit, Columbia Asia Hospital, felt that one of the reasons could be a sense of complacency among people with little intention to seek help when symptoms show. This is because of a low number of Covid cases being reported as compared to earlier, he added.
“A trend we observed is that elderly patients are coming in late for medical help. Screening and tracing of primary and secondary contacts, which was being done on a war-footing during the peak of the pandemic, may have dwindled as cases are fewer. This too leads to cases not being picked up earlier,” said Dr Rangappa, who is part of the tele-ICU team to monitor high-risk Covid cases.
The tele-ICU team observed that elders with symptoms of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection, but without fever and sore throat, become unwell and go to a general practitioner for symptomatic treatment. When their condition worsens, they visit a hospital where they test as Covid-positive. By then it is late and they have to be admitted to ICU.
Dr Anoop Amarnath, Head, Scientific Board and Chairman-Geriatric Medicine, Manipal Hospital, also part of the tele-ICU team, said that CFR, as per the war room data for the last seven days, is at 1 per cent which is a reassuring trend. In due course, it can be brought down below 1 per cent, he said. “The CFR from a few districts can skew the overall data and needs close monitoring.
Overall, Karnataka’s positivity rate vis-a-vis CFR is encouraging,” he added. Health Commissioner Dr K V Thrilok Chandra said, “Even with one or two deaths, CFR will be above 1 per cent due to the low number of positive cases. To bring down CFR, we are doing an intensive analysis of each case to see why the death happened and find the cause to take preventive measures,” he added.