The fresh COVID-19 case load has increased 14-fold in the last nine days, with the numbers going from 566 new cases on December 29 to 8449 new cases on January 7. The last time the daily caseload crossed the 8000 mark in Karnataka was one June 12. The state tally now stands at 30,31,052. Bengaluru is taking a beating as 6812 of Friday's cases were recorded here, taking the city's tally to 12,83,186.
Health Minister Sudhakar said that Omicron is expected to take over all the other strains and that we can expect high number of cases.
"Currently. Bengaluru Urban and Rural, Mandya, Mysuru, Udupi and Kolar are reporting the highest number of cases. Hence, I will talk to respective district officials to take measures to bring down the positivity rate," Sudhakar added.
Active cases in the state which was below 8K just nine days ago, has surged to 30,113. In the capital, it crossed the 25,000 mark in the day, touching 25,370.
It remains a cause of concern that the recovery rate is declining consistently, in the state, going from 98.48 percent on December 25 to 97.73 percent on January 7. Similarly, in Bengaluru, the recovery rate went below the 97 percent mark and dipped to 96.74 percent.
A reassuring factor is the mortality rate which has not risen with the cases. It remains at 1.26 percent, with four deaths taking the toll to 38362.
Sudhakar said that the government is ensuring preparedness in very aspect to mitigate third wave. COVID-19 management responsibilities have been allocated to officials and instructions have been given to ensure coordination between other departments. The experience of past two waves will help us anticipate and plan accordingly, he said.
"More than 29 crore people are infected with COVID-19 across the world. From December 27 to January 2 the infection has increased by 79% globally. About 109 countries have not vaccinated even 70% of their people against COVID-19. 36 countries have not even vaccinated 10%. 80% of the cases in ICU are not vaccinated. WHO has requested India to export vaccines to other countries. No country is safe until every country is safe," Sudhakar cautioned.