With a gradual rise in COVID-19 cases in the districts other than Bengaluru Urban, the seven-day average Test Positivity Rate (TPR) — prior to August 6 — had crossed 10% in Dharwad, the highest in Karnataka. It slightly reduced to 9.84% on August 7. Dharwad is followed by Bagalkot with a seven-day average TPR of 8.21%. Bengaluru Urban, which had the second highest seven-day average TPR till August 5, is now behind Bagalkot at 6.99%.
Overall, nine districts have a TPR that is higher than the State average of 5.49%, according to data from the State war room as of August 7. Apart from Dharwad, Bagalkot and Bengaluru Urban, Davangere, Raichur, Ballari, Mysuru, Chikkamangaluru and Shivamogga have a TPR higher than the State average.
With less than 1%, Chitradurga, Yadgir and Vijayapura have the lowest seven-day average TPR in the State. Karnataka has recorded nearly a two-fold rise in weekly COVID cases since the third week of July. At least 24 districts have recorded nearly a significant rise in the last fortnight.
Karnataka has, in fact, contributed to 10.1% of lndia's weekly new cases in week ending August 5. Concerned over the increasing cases, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan had on August 5 written to the State reminding it of the need for heightened action to contain the spread of cases.
Daily testing in the State, which was below 20,000 till July 18, has been ramped up following the State COVID-19 Technical Advisory Committee’s (TAC) recommendation. Nearly 33,000 tests are conducted daily now, except on Sundays.
However, seven districts (Chikkamangaluru, Bagalkot, Koppal, Ramanagara, Haveri, Kalaburgi and Bengaluru Rural) have reported a decline in the number of total tests conducted in week ending August 4 as compared to week ending July 28, according to the Centre’s letter.
Active cases
Active cases that had crossed 10,000 on July 30 are now hovering around 12,000. Nearly 70% of the total active cases are from Bengaluru Urban. As of Monday, among districts other than Bengaluru, Mysuru has the highest number of active cases at 427 followed by 410 in Belagavi.
The number of hospital admissions too have increased slightly. Till August 7, as many as 221 people were hospitalised of which 27 patients had occupied ICU beds. Only two are on ventilators. Of the 221, only 53 are from Bengaluru.
Similar pattern
TAC chairman M.K. Sudarshan said the rise in districts is a usual pattern observed during every surge. “This time, it has been a bit slow. Bengaluru Urban has sustained the pattern of reporting the highest caseload in the State for over three months and is seeing a decline now,” Dr. Sudharshan said.
Asserting that the current surge cannot be called a wave, the TAC chairman said this is because there is no emergence of any new variant of concern. “This surge is driven by sub-lineages of Omicron. Moreover, the number of hospitalisations are very low. Hence, the situation is not alarming as of now,” he said.
C.N. Manjunath, member of the State’s Clinical Experts Committee, said most of those who are getting infected are either asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic. “COVID has now become similar to viral fever that settles within three to five days. If we further ramp up testing, the number of cases will only go up,” he said.
